Brayan Rocchio hit his second homer of the game, a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning, to give the Cleveland Guardians a 7-6 come-from-behind win over the visiting Detroit Tigers in the first half of a day/night doubleheader on Friday afternoon.
Rocchio belted a grand slam in the fourth inning off Keider Montero, then went deep against Drew Sommers (1-4) to keep Cleveland in sole possession of the final American League wild-card spot.
The Guardians (71-70) extended their lead over the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers to one game in the battle for the final postseason position. Detroit (64-76) blew a 6-1 lead and lost for the 15th time in its last 19 games.
Cade Smith (4-1) pitched the ninth for the win, joining Craig Yoho and Erik Sabrowski to throw four scoreless frames of relief.
Rocchio’s 366-foot homer against Montero came in the five-run fourth, when Cleveland tied the score at 6-6. Travis Bazzana singled in Nathaniel Lowe before Rocchio cleared the fence in right with his first career grand slam.
Montero worked four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked one while squandering a 6-1 lead that he carried into the fourth.
Guardians starter Logan Allen gave up five runs on six hits in 2 1/3 innings, walking a pair with one strikeout. The left-hander is 0-3 with an 8.41 ERA in five career games against the Tigers.
Allen threw 41 pitches and allowed six baserunners in the first, when Detroit scored four times on two-run singles by Ben Malgeri and Max Clark. Both rookies struck with two outs, plating Kevin McGonigle, Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene and Malgeri.
Cleveland pulled within 4-1 in the bottom of the inning on Jo Adell’s sacrifice fly that scored Chase DeLauter, but the Tigers added another run in the second when Torres scored on a double-play grounder by Hao-Yu Lee.
Spencer Torkelson’s solo homer off Slade Cecconi in the third pushed Detroit’s advantage out to 6-1. It was his 22nd of the season and second in two games after not clearing the fence in the month of August.
The first pitch was delayed by 64 minutes because of rain.
Guardians left-hander Foster Griffin (15-4, 3.21 ERA) will start the nightcap against Tigers lefty Andrew Sears (0-1, 6.75 ERA).
An extra player is not permitted to be added for any twinbills played after the MLB roster expansion on Sept. 1.
