For the Cleveland Guardians, winning the series opener against the Detroit Tigers was a necessity.
Had they lost, they would have been seven games behind in the AL Central standings.
They were able to win in Detroit, though, so the gap is now five games.
There was a key moment in the contest, one that could have swung the game in the Tigers’ favor but thanks to top Guardians reliever Cade Smith, Cleveland was able to keep the momentum.
Yes, Cleveland won 7-0, but they were only up 3-0 when Detroit loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth.
The struggling Tim Herrin replaced starter Tanner Bibee to open that eighth frame and immediately walked Trey Sweeney and allowed singles to Javier Baez and Justyn-Henry Malloy to fill up the bases.
Then, manager Stephen Vogt called Smith into action and he proceeded to do this:
Believable because it's Cade Smith.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/DB8y144NHs
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 23, 2025
Smith struck out Akil Baddoo, Zack McKinstry, and Riley Greene to end the threat.
Things could have easily unraveled right there for Cleveland, and a rally wasn’t out of the question.
But Smith came up, firing 98-99 mph darts up in the zone, and complemented that with a truly nasty splitter.
He took care of the heart of the Tigers’ order like it was a minor league team playing an exhibition game.
It was both cool and cold at the same time.
Smith hasn’t always been this good in 2025 but there is no denying he is one of the best arms in the American League when he’s on.
His 2.82 ERA to this point is actually a tad high.
Thursday’s display was another proof that Smith has the talent and determination to get the Guardians out of the most unimaginable jams.
And he didn’t even allow a ball in play.
NEXT: Guardians Pitcher Has Shown Big Improvement Since April
