Have the Guardians found their late-game magic from last year? 

For most of the season, Nolan Jones has been a tangible embodiment of the Guardians’ struggles. 

While he’s not the most high-priced player on the team’s roster, he entered the season with some pressure on his shoulder after the Guardians acquired him from the Colorado Rockies at the end of spring training in exchange for Tyler Freeman. 

And although he’ll never really be able to make up for this being a bit of a disappointing season, he’s spent the past two games showing all of Cleveland what he can bring to table by jump-starting two late game wins for the Guardians. 

Have the Guardians found their late game magic from last year? 

On Wednesday, Jones had arguably his best swing of the year when he launched a game-tying home run with one out in the ninth inning in the Guardians’ come-from-behind win over the Tampa Bay Rays. 

And on Friday he once again found himself in the middle of a come-from-behind win, only this time it was over the Seattle Mariners — the team the Guardians are chasing in the Wild Card race. 

After leading the ninth inning off with a laser beam double into the gap, Jones came around to score on a bloop hit from Brayan Rocchio that featured an… interesting route to home plate. Jones seemingly didn’t get a good read on the ball off the bat, which led to him almost galloping around third base and sliding into Cal Raleigh at the plate. 

A batter later, the Guardians were mobbing Steven Kwan on the infield after he brought Rocchio in with a sacrifice fly. 

Last year, a celebration like that was a fairly common sight on the Guardians’ march toward the American League Central title. This year, that kind of scene hasn’t been there as much, though that’s begun to change as of late. 

Jones also added an incredible outfield assist where he threw out Randy Arozarena at third base from right field. Even if all of his tools haven’t been there for all of this year, they were all on display on Saturday. 

“He's had a great couple days, and I'm excited for him,” manager Stephen Vogt told reporters about Jones after the game. “We talked about it the other day. He has not had the best season.” 

Jones now has a .632 OPS on the season with five home runs. Not great stats, sure, but a lot better than where they were three days ago. 

While any walk-off win is always a good sign, Saturday’s win meant a little more considering it helped knock a game off the Mariners’ lead in the Wild Card race. 

The Guardians have given themselves almost no room for error after their rough start to the season, but their recent run of play has been encouraging considering how much their backs are against the wall.