Angel Martínez spent Thursday night at Fenway Park doing what he has done all season for the Guardians: showing up when Cleveland needed a jolt, even if he was never supposed to be the guy.
His 319-foot shot around the Pesky Pole was the difference in a 1-0 win over the Red Sox, and it sent the Guardians to October for the third straight year. It was the kind of swing that can define a season, and it came from a player who entered the year with no expectation of leading the club in home runs.
Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast host Paul Hoynes saw the whole thing from the Fenway press box and kept coming back to how fitting the moment felt. Co-host Joe Noga summed it up this way: “Angel Martínez and the Pesky Pole. Basically the clinching game came down to a 319-foot home run.”
The ball just stayed fair, sneaking inside the right-field foul pole and hanging on by a sliver. Hoynes described the aftermath in the dugout and on the field: “he’s circling the bases, celebrating with the dugout. The dugout’s going crazy and, it just felt like that run was going to hold up and lo and behold it did.”
Martínez’s own reaction matched the moment. Hoynes said, “Martínez didn’t know if he hit it hard enough, but he just said, ‘I knew it got out. I was just glad it went out.’”
That’s the thing about Martínez’s season: it’s been built on surprise, but not on luck alone. He sits at 18 home runs, which leads the team, and Noga didn’t hide how unexpected that is: “completely unexpected that this guy would lead the team in home runs this season.”
The number might even be misleading. Martínez missed five weeks with a broken bone in his foot, and Hoynes pointed out what that cost him: “he’d easily have 20-plus by now. And you know, Cleveland is the only team that doesn’t have a 20 home run hitter on it.”
So in a very real sense, Martínez has been Cleveland’s 20-homer bat anyway - just one slowed down by injury before he could hit that mark.
His style helps explain why he keeps finding his way into big moments. Hoynes said, “he kind of plays hard, he plays reckless a little bit and you know that can lead to getting hurt.”
Noga pushed back with a more flattering version of the same idea: “reckless in a good way. He plays with reckless abandon.”
That approach nearly cost him a place in the lineup again. Just a week before the clincher, Martínez was dealing with a right flank injury suffered on a swing, and there were real questions about whether he’d be available. He stayed in it, though, and then delivered the biggest hit of the Guardians’ season.
In his third big league season, Martínez leads the team in homers and owns the hit that punched Cleveland’s ticket to the postseason. It’s been one of the most unexpected and welcome developments in the Guardians’ year, and it’s still unfolding.
In Other News...
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Gavin Williams did not have a smooth night on the mound, which only added to the tension in a game that kept changing hands. Cleveland will have to keep sorting through the pitching side as the series moves on, with Michael Wacha and Tanner Bibee scheduled to face off in the next game and another chance for the Guardians to protect that narrow lead. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the Guardians are heading toward a familiar late-season question: can they hold onto first place in the AL Central and line up an ALDS berth? If they do, DeLauter will be back in the October spotlight for his second playoff run, but this time with a full season behind him and a much larger role in what comes next. For Cleveland, that combination is exactly the kind of young-core momentum that can make a postseason path feel a little more real. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Bullpen Depth Just Put One Reliever In A Tough Spot
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Brogdon will stay around the organization for Cleveland's stay ready camp now that the minor league season is over, which gives him a chance to keep working while his immediate role remains unsettled. He is also expected to become a free agent this offseason, so the next stretch may be less about finding a lane with the Guardians and more about proving he still belongs in the picture somewhere. [Read more 🡒]