I have been to four playoff games, three of which my team won, but no major league game I’ve attended was more memorable than this game. It was a hot but not oppressively so August night, with two teams leading their divisions and in fact destined to clash in the ALCS facing off. Russell Martin struck the first blow with a two-out, two-run first inning shot off Trevor Bauer, but Bauer was brilliant from there, allowing just three more hits and a walk while fanning thirteen. The Indians drew closer with a sixth-inning tally, but Joaquin Benoit and Jason Grilli held them down in the eighth and the ninth, getting the ball to Roberto Osuna.
Osuna got Carlos Santana to foul to catcher and was ahead 0-2 on Jose Ramirez before Ramirez pulled what at first looked like a routine fly to right. It carried over the fence to tie the game. Tyler Naquin followed, and hit what at first looked like an instant replay of Ramirez’ ball. In truth, I thought Naquin’s had more of a chance off the bat. Michael Saunders went back to the wall tentatively and couldn’t make the catch as it hit off the top of the wall, and took a beautiful bounce towards right-center. BJ Upton came over to field it but ended up having to make a relay throw from the seat of his pants. I was sitting in the upper deck and as soon as a I saw the ricochet off the wall, I thought that an inside-the-parker was a possibility. Naquin dove headfirst into home. Back-to-back homers to win it in the ninth, and while it wasn’t the first or last inside-the-park homer I’ve seen in person, it was definitely the only one that was a walkoff.
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