Lane Thomas completely flips trade narrative for Guardians with one grand swing

In Saturday's do-or-die Game 5 between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers, we were treated to a classic pitching duel through four innings. Tarik Skubal continued his October heater for the Gritty Tigs, while Cleveland received its standard collective excellence from Matthew Boyd, Cade Smith, and Erik Sabrowski.

Then, the narrative flipped in the fifth inning. And flipped again.

In the top of the fifth, rookie Andrew Walters took the mound for Cleveland. He did not have command of his stuff, coughing up a leadoff walk to Trey Sweeney before Kerry Carpenter pinch hit at the top of the lineup. Carpenter can't run because of a hamstring injury, but he was still able to rocket a ball to the right field wall, which scored Sweeney.

That put the Tigers up 1-0, which felt like an impossible mountain to climb for the ice-cold Guardians against Skubal. Nothing has phased Skubal all October; going into the bottom of the fifth, Skubal had recorded 28 straight scoreless innings.

Well, the Guards finally broke through with a thousand cuts — then a grand slam.

Skubal loaded the bases with one out, recomposed himself on the mound, and immediately drilled Jose Ramiriez to bring home the tying run. That left the bases loaded for Lane Thomas, an oft-bemoaned trade deadline addition by the Guardians.

Thomas made amends with the fanbase in a single swing of the bat.

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Guardians' Lane Thomas flips narrative of his 2024 season with a single swing

Lane Thomas was dealt to Cleveland at the trade deadline as the Washington Nationals cleaned house. After arriving in the heartland, Thomas slashed .209/.267/.390 with seven home runs in 172 ABs. He was brought in to provide much-needed power to a mediocre Guardians offense, but it just didn't click. Not in the regular season, at least.

The postseason has been a different story. Thomas mashed a three-run home run in Game 1 against Detroit and was batting .267 in the series before Saturday's win-or-go-home showdown.

That grand slam is unquestionably the biggest swing of Thomas' career. This was his first test on the postseason stage and it's fair to say Thomas has passed with flying colors.

Offense has been an ongoing struggle for this Guardians team. Bullpen depth can only take a team so far if the bats don't come alive. Thankfully for Cleveland, Thomas was able to capitalize on Skubal's only lapse in weeks. He has quickly gone from a source of frustration is a borderline local legend, assuming Cleveland can hold on to win this Game 5.