Cade Smith didn’t just finish the game Wednesday in Detroit. He wrung every last bit out of it.
The Guardians closer was asked for four outs in Cleveland’s 6-4 win over the Tigers, and by the time he was done, he had thrown a career-high 38 pitches and earned his 31st save. It was the kind of outing that explained why the Guardians are willing to stretch him beyond the standard three-out job when the moment calls for it.
Smith’s night really turned in the eighth, when he entered with two runners on and two outs and immediately found himself in a long duel with Tigers rookie Max Clark. He got ahead 0-2 with a pair of 99 mph fastballs, but Clark kept extending the at-bat, fouling off eight pitches with two strikes. Smith kept coming with heat up in the zone and splitters down below it until Clark finally tipped a 100.7 mph fastball into Austin Hedges’ glove for strike three.
Smith didn’t even realize how much he had already thrown.
“I didn’t even realize it was that long,” Smith said. “You’re playing the game of trying to execute your best pitch over and over and over again and just trying to bear down and beat him.”
Stephen Vogt, meanwhile, was tracking every pitch and feeling the pressure build with it.
“I didn’t like it,” Vogt said. “As that pitch count kept getting closer and closer to 10, you start doing the counting in your head.”
The Guardians manager had been comfortable using Smith for four outs because the closer had two days off. But that Clark battle changed the shape of the inning, and it left Smith with plenty more work to do in the ninth.
He gave up singles to Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres, then struck out Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler. Only then did Smith notice where the pitch count stood.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s 31 already,’” Smith said. “At that point it’s like, I’ve got to leave everything I have on the field.”
The final out required help from the defense. Kevin McGonigle chopped one toward the left side, where Brayan Rocchio made a backhand play deep in the hole and fired across his body from deep short. Nathaniel Lowe handled the throw at first with a scoop, beating McGonigle by a hair to end it.
“I thought Roki made a great play to field that deep in the hole and make the throw across the diamond,” Smith said. “And then Nate made a great pick at first.”
The 38 pitches were the most Smith has thrown in a major league appearance, topping the 34 he threw twice as a rookie, including his debut in Oakland.
What stood out to Vogt wasn’t just the workload. It was that Smith never lost his edge.
“He held his stuff for 40 pitches last night,” Vogt said. “There’s not very many relievers that can do that, especially closers.
Most guys you see around 30, the stuff starts to tick down. It did not.”
Smith said better mechanical efficiency has helped him keep his velocity deep into the season. Vogt sees something else too: the work Smith puts in between outings.
“His routines are the most dialed I’ve ever seen of anybody,” Vogt said. “Nothing’s by accident the way Cade works.”
Smith said he was tired afterward and ready for bed with a day game waiting Thursday. But by the next morning, he was already back in recovery mode and preparing for whatever comes next.
“Cade’s a special, special human,” Vogt said.
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Stephen Vogt and Chase DeLauter have both pointed to the mental side of those situations, which fits the way the numbers have looked. For a club trying to squeeze more out of a lineup that has already created chances, the next step is less about finding baserunners and more about sharpening the approach when the game is asking for one clean swing, one productive out or one simple run-scoring play. [Read more 🡒]