David Fry was called upon to make two important plays at the plate, and he succeeded both times, helping to keep the Cleveland Guardians’ season alive.
Fry hit a go-ahead, two-run homer as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and executed a safety squeeze bunt for an important ninth-inning run in a 5-4 win against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night, which set up Game 5 of the AL Division Series.
“Got a must-win game,” he said.
Game 5 will take place in Cleveland on Saturday night, thanks to Fry.
Batting for Kyle Manzardo in the seventh, the designated hitter hit a fastball over the left-field wall, marking the second pinch-homer in franchise history and the first since Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.
It was the fourth go-ahead pinch homer in postseason history when trailing in the seventh inning or later, joining Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 World Series, Ed Sprague of Toronto in the 1992 World Series, and Eric Hinske of Atlanta in the 2010 NL Division Series.
“You dream about it as a kid and think about it all the time,” Fry said.
After Fry’s home run, manager Stephen Vogt asked him to play small ball on the first pitch he faced in the ninth inning. Cleveland had runners at the corners after one-out singles by Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan.
“Vogt kind of came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, how confident are you in getting the bunt down?’” Fry recalled. “And I told him I wasn’t a very good hitter in high school, so I’m pretty confident. I had to bunt a lot.”
The 28-year-old Fry, who attended Grapevine High School in Texas, was chosen by Milwaukee in the seventh round of the 2018 amateur draft from Northwestern State in Louisiana.
Cleveland picked him up from Milwaukee shortly before the 2022 season. After having limited playing time as a rookie last year, he became an All-Star this season, mostly playing as a designated hitter, while also providing options for Vogt at catcher, first and third base, and in the outfield, despite dealing with an elbow injury.
“You just can’t say enough about what David has meant to us this year,” Vogt said.
Fry stepped up in a big way to help the Guardians break an 11-game losing streak when facing elimination since Game 6 of the 1997 World Series.
“David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Vogt said.
