Cleveland’s DeLauter drops fly ball in center on first ball in majors before making key play in 4th

CLEVELAND (AP) – When Chase DeLauter walked out to right field for the seventh inning of Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series, the Guardians outfielder looked up to the upper deck of Progressive Field.

That was the moment when DeLauter was finally able to reflect on a memorable big league debut.

After dropping the first fly ball hit to him, DeLauter ended up making the defensive play of the game as Cleveland beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Wednesday to send the best-of-three series to a deciding game on Thursday.

“Just unreal emotions the last couple days, and then we come out here and get a win and get to keep playing ball,” said DeLauter, who turns 24 on Oct. 8.

DeLauter was the first Cleveland player to make his big league debut in a postseason game. After telling him he would be on the Wild Card roster on Monday, manager Stephen Vogt told DeLauter there was a good chance he would be in the lineup on Wednesday.

Even though playing DeLauter might’ve been considered a risk, Vogt noted it’s not any different from what the team has done all season.

“We don’t like to use the gamble word around here right now. It’s taking a shot. He’s one of our best players in the organization,” Vogt said. “We’ve pushed the envelope all year. Why stop now?”

Selected 16th in the 2022 amateur draft, DeLauter hit .278 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 34 games at Triple-A Columbus. He likely would have been up at some point during the regular season, but was sidelined by injuries for much of this year.

It wasn’t a great start though.

DeLauter started the game in center field and dropped a high fly hit by Detroit’s Gleyber Torres during the first inning. He had a tough time initially tracking the ball on a sunny afternoon before moving a couple steps to his right. The ball popped out of his glove when he tried to haul it in near the middle of his body.

It was only DeLauter’s second error after nearly 272 innings playing center field in the minors.

The gaffe put runners on first and second with no outs, but Tanner Bibee struck out the next three hitters to end the threat.

“When that ball hit the ground I was in shambles right away. I mean you never want that to happen. Anybody, any situation, especially in a playoff game,” DeLauter said. “I played the sun wrong. I mean, I kind of let the ball get into the middle of it and wasn’t able to get it out of it until the very last second and unfortunately I didn’t come down with the ball.”

Left fielder Steven Kwan said DeLauter was put in a tough spot with the sun, swirling winds in the outfield and the stakes of the game.

Bibee approached DeLauter in the dugout to give him a pat on the back and some reassurance.

“It doesn’t matter because I feel like even if that run did score, it wouldn’t have mattered because it’s just a hard play. And one of those things where I’m going to have your back and eventually, you’re going to get my back as well. And literally, it came a little earlier than expected,” Bibee said.

Three innings later, DeLauter came up with the defensive play that might have ended up saving the Guardians’ season.

DeLauter fielded Javier Báez’s hit and made a pinpoint throw to third base, where Zach McKinstry was tagged out by José Ramírez. McKinstry was originally ruled safe, which would have put Detroit on top 2-1, but a video review overruled the call, which took one run off the board and left it 1-1.

Vogt credited replay coordinator Gunnar Wilhelmy for the quick decision to make a replay challenge.

DeLauter thought the throw beat the runner but wasn’t sure the call would be overturned.

“I didn’t love that there wasn’t a whole lot of room for that to be turned over, but when they turned it over it was a really cool feeling,” he said.

DeLauter went 0 for 2 at the plate but drew a walk in his first plate appearance in the second inning. He fell behind 0-2 in the count before being walked after an eight pitch at-bat.

He hit a line drive to center field in the seventh inning that most days would have dropped for a hit. But it got caught in the wind before Detroit’s Parker Meadows was able to snag it.

“Just his resilience to fight against adversity. Something like that happens early, but I mean the at-bats he had after that, clearly that had no effect on him,” infielder Daniel Schneemann said. “You couldn’t tell if he was nervous or not. He’s super even keeled and so I think that says a lot about him.”

DeLauter had a large number of family in attendance as he also became the sixth player to debut in the postseason and the first since Tampa Bay pitcher Shane McClanahan, San Diego pitcher Ryan Weathers and Minnesota outfielder Alex Kirilloff in 2020, according to the Elias Sports Bureau,

“Such a surreal feeling, hearing my name, running out and hearing everybody kind of scream for me that it’s a feeling every player kind of wishes for it,” DeLauter said. “It helps you feel like you belong, you feel the support right away and in some form, too. It calms you down on the field. You kind of feel like you should be there and should perform.”