Daniel Schneemann’s walk-off against Tigers saves Guardians from disastrous homestand result

It turns out you need to have ‘Schneetember’ before you can have ‘Rocchtober’.

After Brayan Rocchio and Travis Bazzana put the Guardians on their backs in Cleveland’s doubleheader sweep of the Tigers on Friday, Daniel Schneemann became the latest Guardian to play hero on Sunday with a walk-off single in the tenth inning.

While the win didn’t help the Guardians gain any ground in the American League Central, it thrust the Guardians back into sole control of the American League’s third Wild Card spot thanks to the Blue Jays’ loss to the Royals. 

Daniel Schneemann gave Guardians fans another taste of September magic with walk-off

Even if Sunday’s game didn’t feature the same kind of drama as Friday’s dual walk-offs, it was just as important given where the Guardians were in the standings after their lethargic showing in Saturday’s 6-0 loss.

Had the Guardians lost, they would have still been “tied” with the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot, though Toronto held the spot by virtue of holding the tiebreaker they earned by winning their series against Cleveland earlier this week. 

The Blue Jays are about to start a very winnable series against the Athletics, while the Guardians are about to head to Baltimore for a three-game series against an Orioles team that’s dangerously close to falling out of the postseason race. 

It was about as close to a must-win as the Guardians have had all season, and Scheemann delivered. And not a moment too soon. 

A month ago, the Guardians sent Schneemann to Triple-A after they traded for Nathaniel Lowe and Jo Adell. And, to his credit, he did nothing but rake in the minors (.990 OPS in 25 games) and earned a call-up when rosters expanded at the start of the month.

A big reason for that was due to his defensive versatility, however, as his hit against the Tigers was his first in 11 at-bats since getting called up. 

That homer helped back up another fantastic outing from Gavin Williams, who racked up 11 strikeouts and now leads MLB with 228 punchouts. He may not have the counting stats needed to win the Cy Young, but he’s as locked in as any pitcher in baseball right now. 

The Guardians may not be a complete team, but they seem to have refound the magic that helped carry them to a division title last season. Is that a sustainable way to win? No, not at all. 

It’s a near miracle the Guardians won their series considering they never led at any point until they picked up their walk-off hits. 

It may not work for the rest of the season, but it somehow worked this weekend.

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