Brayan Rocchio hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 9-8 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday, putting an exclamation point on their improbable AL Central title.
When the Detroit Tigers lost 4-3 at Boston earlier in the day, the Guardians completed the largest comeback to win a division or league championship in major league history.
Texas took an 8-5 lead on pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez’s three-run homer off Zak Kent (1-0) in the top of the 10th.
But with George Valera as the automatic runner on second base, Bo Naylor hit an RBI double to bring Cleveland within two. Petey Halpin drew a walk before Rocchio drove a 1-2 fastball from Jose Corniell (0-1) off the right-field foul pole to give the Guardians their ninth walk-off win this season.
The Guardians (88-74) trailed 5-4 in the middle of the eighth when they found out they were division champs after Detroit’s Parker Meadows flied out to Boston left fielder Jarren Duran. If the two teams had ended up tied, Cleveland still would have won the division based on the head-to-head tiebreaker after taking the season series.
Rocchio tied it at 5 when his sacrifice fly drove in Naylor in the eighth.
The Guardians will host the Tigers in Game 1 of their best-of-three Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
Cleveland was 40-48 and 15 1/2 games behind Detroit on July 6 before beginning the long climb back.
The 1914 Boston Braves were 15 games back in the National League on July 4 and rallied to win by 10 1/2 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Since baseball went to division play in 1969, the biggest deficit overcome had been 14 games by the 1978 New York Yankees to win the AL East.
It is Cleveland’s 13th AL Central title, but the first time it has gone back-to-back since winning three straight from 2016-18.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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