The Guardians achieve great success, David Fry makes history in the decisive battle of ALDS game 4

Despite Gibson’s fairytale home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers, Fry’s had the magnitude to send the Guardians into a vital Game 5 against their surging division rivals on Saturday.

“As a kid, you dream about it and you think about it all the time, even in the offseason when you’re working on stuff, and then it happens and it goes away real quick,” Fry said. “I remember looking at Sandy (Alomar Jr.) in the dugout and high-fiving, then I passed out, and then you’re sitting in the dugout cheering with the guys. Yes, it was a lot of fun.”

Fry was called for a hit on Kyle Manzardo with two outs and Steven Kwan at first base and was scheduled to face Tigers left-hander Sean Guenther, but Detroit manager AJ Hinch hit righty Beau Brieske, whom Fry had previously faced had competed three times and beat him in every stroke.

But Fry struggled against the big, bad right-hander, fouling off a changeup and a 97-mph fastball before even counting to make the score 2-2. When Brieske went deep with a fastball, Fry dropped his barrel and ripped the pitch 382 feet into the Cleveland bullpen.

It was his first career postseason home run and only the second close home run in franchise history, tied with Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series against the Giants.

Even better, Fry’s home run was the first close home run in franchise history, giving Cleveland a lead. Just like Gibby did when he hobbled through the bases 34 years ago. According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Fry, Gibson (1988), Ed Sprague (1992) and Eric Hinske are the only players to hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later in MLB postseason history .

“I was just trying to get a pitch to hit, and luckily I blocked some pitches by two and was able to throw something up.”

Fry ended up driving in three of Cleveland’s five runs, including an RBI sacrifice squeeze bunt in the ninth inning that scored third-inning Brayan Rocchio and gave the Guardians a two-run lead. It proved important when Detroit touched closer Emmanuel Clase for a run in the ninth before Clase slammed the door on a 5-4 win.

Fry said manager Stephen Vogt approached him before the attack in the ninth and asked him how comfortable he was in a safety squeeze situation.

“I told him I wasn’t a particularly good hitter in high school, so I’m pretty confident; I had to do a lot of coloring,” Fry said. “Just before I went up he said, ‘Do it on the first pitch,’ and luckily I made the run-up.”

Vogt went to the bench early and often in Game 3, looking for favorable matchups, but didn’t get the results he wanted. That wasn’t the case on Thursday. He said that sending Fry against Brieske was more about the matchup, despite Brieske’s previous success.

“David was really good at pitching right-handed and Beau Brieske pitched really well against us all year,” Vogt said. “At that moment we wanted to get the right-on-right matchup, and David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league. He’s just a baseball player. You saw it tonight.”

Hinch said the Guardians have a number of batsmen who can turn the game around against an opponent.

“Whether it’s Kwan sitting on base all night, Fry coming off the bench and doing a lot of things, and Rocchio making some good swings at the end,” Hinch said. “I don’t want José Ramírez to appear in a big place.”

Ramírez, who hit his first home run of the series, a solo shot in the fifth inning that briefly gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead, said he was pleased with Fry’s success.

“He’s been in this spot for us all year,” Ramírez said through Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Whenever we’re asked to do something on defense, he’s always the guy on offense that comes through, and that’s what we always expect from him. “I’m excited about the year he’s had so far.”