Did Nolan Jones save the Guardians' season with his clutch home run against the Rays?

For 8 1/3 innings on Wednesday, the Cleveland Guardians looked dead in the water. While they were able to get two runs against Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, they couldn't bring the tying run across the plate and just kept putting up uncompetitive at-bat after uncompetitive at-bat.

All hope seemed to be lost heading into the bottom of the ninth, as the Rays called upon closer Pete Fairbanks to work against the bottom of the Guardians order. It was the kind of situation that sent most Guardians fans to the turnstiles in an attempt to beat traffic.

But then Nolan Jones had his best swing of the year and clubbed a Fairbanks slider 428 feet to tie the game with two outs left.

An inning later, the team was on the field mobbing Kyle Manzardo on the infield after his walk-off single.

While the win only bumped the Guardians up to .500 (66-66) in what's been a disappointing year, it kept them treading water ahead of their biggest series of the year against the Mariners this weekend.

Did Nolan Jones save the Guardians' season with his clutch home run against the Rays?

It can't be overstated how bad of a season this has been for Jones. The Guardians acquired him from the Rockies at the end of spring training in exchange for Tyler Freeman in the hopes that he'd be able to fix their problems in right field.

Instead, he's just contributed to them, as he entered Wednesday hitting just .211 with three home runs and an OPS+ that was more than 30% below league average.

Although one swing doesn't take away from those struggles, it did give him the signature moment he's sorely been missing during his second stint in Cleveland.

“I had big plans to have a big bounce back year and help this club win, and that hasn't been the case in a lot of ways,” Jones said after the game. “We have a lot of good people in that locker room and trusting in that and working with them [has helped me]. I would like to say that I work my butt off every single day on both sides of the ball.

That blast set up Manzardo, who is quickly becoming captain clutch for the Guardians. Wednesday's heroics marked his third-walk off win of the year, which is a tangible example of how much of a threat Manzardo can be in the middle of the lineup.

While José Ramírez wasn't in the lineup Wednesday due to a rare day off, the Rays still manipulated the Guardians' lineup in the tenth inning, but, instead of Ramírez getting the intentional walk, it was Steven Kwan at the top of the lineup.

Now the rest of the Guardians' season comes down to this weekend. They need to take at least two out of three from Seattle if they want to stay in the Wild Card hunt. Sweep them, and they have the potential to be just two games back from a postseason spot as the calendar flips to September.

They've dug themselves a hole thanks to their offensive struggles, but Jones' home run on Wednesday gave them a pulse.