Lane Thomas broke the Cleveland Guardians’ 20-inning scoreless streak with an RBI single in the first inning of AL Division Series Game 4 against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
Steven Kwan started with a single to left field, which extended his postseason hitting streak to nine games. He is now tied with Tony Fernández and just one game behind Kenny Lofton’s franchise record of 10 games set in 1995.
Kyle Manzardo also got a single, José Ramírez made an out, and Kwan stole third base. Josh Naylor struck out, and then Thomas hit a first-pitch sinker to right field against Reese Olson, who had not allowed a run in the first inning during any of his 22 regular-season starts.
Cleveland won the first game of the series 7-0, where Thomas hit a three-run homer during a five-run first inning. The Guardians added two more runs in the sixth inning.
Detroit won the next two games and was just one win away from reaching the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2013.
Before this series, Cleveland had lost 11 straight games when facing elimination in the postseason, dating back to their Game 6 win against the Florida Marlins in the 1997 World Series.
If the Guardians manage to extend the series, they would host Game 5 on Saturday.
