Oscar Gonzalez might never return Sandy Alomar Jr’s belt after smashing his third postseason go-ahead hit

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Oscar Gonzalez has been carrying Sandy Alomar Jr’s belt since struggling a wardrobe malfunction within the tenth inning of Cleveland’s wild card clinching win in opposition to Tampa Bay final week.

Alomar shortly pulled off his belt and traded with Gonzalez after the rookie broke his on a head-first slide at second base.

After delivering the game-winning runs for the Guardians in one other postseason walk-off victory, Gonzalez mentioned Alomar will not be more likely to get the belt again anytime quickly.

“I’m going to proceed utilizing it,” Gonzalez mentioned through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “One thing tells me Sandy won’t ever see it once more.”

Gonzalez joined David Ortiz as the one gamers in main league historical past with three go-ahead hits within the ninth inning or later in a single postseason. Ortiz did it within the first eight video games of the 2004 playoffs for Boston. Gonzalez has completed so in simply 5 video games for Cleveland.

His solo residence run in opposition to Tampa Bay received the wild card sequence for the Guardians every week in the past and his single previous Anthony Rizzo’s glove on Friday handed Cleveland the lead in a 4-2 further inning win.

“We’ve seen it in two sequence so removed from this man,” mentioned Cleveland beginning pitcher Triston McKenzie. “He comes up within the fifteenth inning and hits a house run, has a game-winning hit in one other recreation, has the hit tonight. There’s a maturity degree on the plate you don’t see on a regular basis.”

Supervisor Terry Francona mentioned Gonzalez continues to develop in entrance of everybody’s eyes as he makes play after play within the postseason.

“He can take some swings early within the rely, and also you’re like ‘Uh-oh,’” Francona mentioned. “When he will get to 2 strikes, he will get the barrel of the bat to the ball a number of instances, and did it once more tonight.”

Gonzalez’s teammate, Steven Kwan, mentioned because the Guardians mounted their rally within the ninth, it appeared loopy the expectation within the dugout was that Gonzalez might come via once more.

“He’s at all times so calm in these positions,” Kwan mentioned. “He by no means will get too excessive or too low it doesn’t matter what the rely is. It doesn’t matter what the scenario is, he’s the identical hitter. He thrives in these moments. That’s the man you need within the second.”

Gonzalez mentioned he didn’t really feel any strain when he stepped to the plate with two out and the bases loaded. Even when he fell behind within the rely 1-2 to New York’s Clarke Schmidt, he remained targeted.

“There’s not any kind of strain,” Gonzalez mentioned. “I’m simply attempting to place the ball in play and get the ball out and simply excited have it occur.”

Shortstop Amed Rosario mentioned it’s satisfying to see Gonzalez get acknowledged for his capability to come back via with clutch hits.

“He doesn’t understand totally how gifted he’s and the expertise God has given him,” Rosario mentioned through Rivero. “We preserve speaking about it. It’s very nice to see he’s getting the outcomes. It’s very clear the expertise that he has.”

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