José Ramírez and Chase DeLauter combined for six hits in the Cleveland Guardians’ 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, and both players earned plenty of headlines. But two of the biggest swings of the night came from players who had not exactly been stars for Cleveland during the regular season. Patrick Bailey tied the game with a towering home run in the seventh inning, and Nathaniel Lowe gave the Guardians the lead for good with a clutch two-run single in the eighth. Neither one put up eye-popping numbers after arriving in Cleveland, yet both came through when the stakes were highest.
Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly highlighted the pair in his takeaways from Monday night, noting that “Game 1 saw some unlikely heroes emerge.”
“For all the focus on stars like Ramírez and Junior Caminero in this series, Game 1 saw some unlikely heroes emerge. It was Nathaniel Lowe—who posted just a .650 OPS after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds—that delivered a two-run single for the Guardians in the eighth. An inning prior to Lowe’s big hit, Patrick Bailey destroyed one 436 feet, hitting his second homer in three games. It can be some of these unlikely heroes that ultimately determine which team has a parade,” Kelly wrote.
Start with Bailey. The Guardians acquired the catcher from San Francisco in May, and at the time of the trade he was hitting just .146 with a .396 OPS. Cleveland brought him in for his glove, as he arrived as a two time Gold Glove winner known for his work behind the plate. But his bat has come alive in October. On Monday, with the Guardians trailing 2-1 in the seventh, Bailey swung at the first pitch he saw from Drew Rasmussen and launched it 436 feet over the wall in right center to tie the game. It was his second homer in three games, following a pinch hit blast in Game 4 of the division series against the White Sox. Bailey finished 2-4 and said afterward that he is simply trying to hit the ball hard, and lately it has been finding the air.
Lowe’s moment came one inning later. After José Ramírez reached on an infield hit and DeLauter doubled him to third, the Rays brought in left hander Ian Seymour to face Lowe. On paper, it was a matchup that favored Tampa Bay. Lowe hit just .111 against lefties during the regular season, going 5-45, and he posted only a .650 OPS after coming over from Cincinnati at the trade deadline. None of that mattered. He fouled off two straight pitches before lining a 93 mph fastball into center field to drive in two runs and give Cleveland a 4-2 lead.
LOWE 2-RBI SINGLE 😤
He puts the Guardians ahead in the 8th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/x8QsKhziXO
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) October 13, 2026
Lowe said he was not thinking about his struggles against lefties and was only focused on getting a good pitch to hit.
There was a little extra meaning to that hit, too. Lowe was drafted by the Rays and made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2019 before being traded to Texas, where he went on to win a Silver Slugger and a World Series ring. Delivering the go ahead hit against his first organization in the ALCS made for quite a full circle moment.
The Rays had an unlikely hero of their own. Cedric Mullins hit just .205 with a .628 OPS during the regular season, but he homered off Erik Sabrowski in the eighth inning to pull Tampa Bay within a run. Cleveland answered with three more runs in the ninth to put the game away.
That is how a team wins in October, and the Guardians have proven it over and over during this run. Game 2 is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Tropicana Field, with Parker Messick starting for Cleveland against Rays right hander Freddy Peralta. If Bailey and Lowe keep delivering, the Guardians might not need to rely on their stars to carry the load every night.
NEXT: Guardians Player Says Chase DeLauter Has Something You Can’t Teach
