Brayan Rocchio hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, completing a four-run rally and lifting the American League Central champion Cleveland Guardians to a wild 9-8 win over the visiting Texas Rangers on Sunday in the teams’ regular-season finale.
Cleveland won the AL Central an hour before when Detroit fell to Boston in a game that was being played simultaneously. The Guardians (88-74) will open the best-of-three wild-card round against the Tigers in Cleveland on Tuesday.
Rocchio’s walk-off round-tripper came off the Rangers’ Jose Corniell (0-1), who was making his Major League debut with a three-run lead. Rowdy Tellez had staked Texas to an 8-5 cushion with his own three-run shot in the top of the frame.
Bo Naylor doubled home automatic runner George Valera to open the bottom of the 10th, and after a walk to Petey Halpin, Rocchio homered to right field.
Texas (81-81) finished in third place in the AL West.
Zack Kent (1-0) backed into the win despite allowing Tellez’s homer.
The Guardians grabbed the lead in the first with Johnathan Rodriguez’s single driving home Steven Kwan and Angel Martinez.
Texas responded in the second as Alejandro Osuna’s two-out double plated Jonah Heim and Dylan Moore after the former got on with a fielder’s-choice grounder and the latter was hit by a pitch by Allen.
The Rangers took the lead in the third. Cody Freeman singled and went to third on a double by Josh Jung off starter Logan Allen. Jake Burger followed with a one-out single to drive in Freeman and Jung and put Texas up 4-2.
Cleveland answered in the bottom of the frame, paring its deficit to 4-3 as Naylor’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly allowed Martinez to trot home.
In the sixth, pinch hitter Billy McKinney reached on a two-base throwing error by Gabriel Arias, went to third on a groundout and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Michael Helman that pushed Texas’ lead to 5-3.
Jhonkensy Noel got one back for the Guardians with a home run in the seventh off Hoby Milner. After playing from behind the whole game, Rocchio tied it for Cleveland in the eighth when his sacrifice fly drove home Naylor, who doubled to open the inning.
