Gimenez's hit gave the Guardians the win and clinched a spot in the playoffs. It also left the Twins tied with Detroit for the final wild-card spot with nine games to go.
Rocco Baldelli might've lit a fire under Andres Gimenez when he decided to have Caleb Thielbar intentionally walk Lane Thomas ahead of Gimenez in the bottom of the 10th inning Thursday afternoon in Cleveland.
It was clear that Baldelli walked Thomas to fill first base and set up a potential inning-ending double play. Instead Gimenez ripped a line drive single to right field and Jose Ramirez trotted home from second base for Cleveland's second walk-off win over the Twins in as many days.Gimenez's hit gave the Guardians the win and clinched a spot in the playoffs. It also left the Twins tied with Detroit for the final wild-card spot with nine games to go.
Now, about the decision to walk Thomas ahead of Gimenez. While setting up the possibility for a double play makes sense, Thomas is strikeout prone and was 0-for-1 with a walk in his career against Thielbar. In fact, Thomas has struck out in 40.9% of his at-bats since being traded to Cleveland. Gimenez was 3-for-7 with a double and a triple lifetime against Thielbar and now he's 4-for-8. Baldelli clearly thought he was making the right decision and Thielbar was going to face Gimenez one way or another, but it might've lit a fire under Gimenez and he made Baldelli and the Twins pay.
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