First-year manager Stephen Vogt was roundly criticized for the way he managed in Games 2 and 3 of the ALDS between the Guardians and Tigers, most notably the way he went to pinch hitters Jhonkensey Noel and David Fry too early Oct. 9 in the 3-0 loss to the Tigers in Game 3. Vogt must be a very fast learner. He steered the Guardians to a 5-4 series-tying victory in Game 4 on Oct. 10 at Comerica Park and force a winner-moves-on, loser-goes-home Game 5 on Oct. 12 at Progressive Field. Vogt could have gone to the bench for his two right-handed hitters early again. Instead, he waited until the seventh inning. The Guardians trailed, 3-2, in a game they had to win. Noel grounded out to start the seventh. Brayan Rocchio flied out to center. The Guardians were down to seven outs in their season. Steven Kwan, 8-for-16 in the series, singled up the middle off left-hander Sean Gunther. Fry was announced as the pinch hitter for left-handed batter Kyle Manzardo. Tigers manager A,J, Hinch countered by calling right-handed Beau Brieske out of the bullpen, as Vogt expected Hinch would. Brieske faced Fry three times before Game 4 and struck him out each time. But Vogt has faith in the 28-year-old Texan who played eight years in the minors before getting his chance with the Guardians in 2023. Fry, a surprise selection for the 2024 All-Star game, delivered like an All-Star. With two out and the count 2-2, Fry clobbered a 97-mph fastball into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and a 4-3 Cleveland lead. It was the first time in the history of Cleveland baseball that a pinch-hit home run gave the team the lead in the playoffs. Fry wasn’t through, and neither was Vogt. Rocchio was on third and Kwan, with his third hit in the game, was on first with one out and Fry at the plate in the top of the ninth. Fry bunted only one time in the regular season. The result was a double play. But Vogt called a safety squeeze. Fry laid down a perfect bunt to the right side of the mound. Rocchio slid into home, touching the plate with his right hand an instant ahead of the throw that would have nailed him. “For us in that moment, we wanted to get the right-on-right matchup, and David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Vogt told reporters in his postgame news conference. “He’s just a baseball player. You saw it tonight. Pinch-hit off the bench, home run, gets the safety squeeze down, game on the line. “You just can’t say enough about what David has meant to us this year. And the personal history is huge, but you look at that you can say, ‘Oh, no, he (Brieske) owns him or he’s due.’ Like we talked about yesterday, you have to take your shots, and fortunately one of our shots worked out today.” Vogt was also criticized for calling on Emmanuel Clase to get the last out of the eighth in a scoreless Game 2 on Oct. 7. Clase accomplished that mission, but then gave up a pair of two two-out singles. He was one strike away from keeping the game scoreless and forcing extra innings, but Kerry Carpenter hammered a three-run home to right field, accounting for the only runs in the game. Clase pitched multiple innings only once in the regular season, a regular season in which he led all of baseball with 47 saves and allowed only two home runs and five earned runs in 74 1/3 innings over 74 games. What could Vogt have been thinking, his frustrated critics wondered aloud. Vogt figuratively thumbed his nose at those critics in Game 4. “Obviously, it’s win or go home,” Vogt said. “You want your best pitchers out there as long as possible. Tanner (starting pitcher Tanner Bibee) gave us four-plus phenomenal, and then the big four in the bullpen took it from there and did a great job. We had talked about before the game Emmanuel getting four to five outs if we needed that, and tonight we did. And he was outstanding.” The Tigers had two runners on in the bottom of the eighth with one out. Vogt called for Clase to relieve Hunter Gaddis. Clase got Zach McKinstry on a ground out and struck out Trey Sweeney to preserve the 4-3 Guardians lead. Clase did give up a run in the bottom of the ninth after Fry plated Rocchio, but he did enough to earn the biggest save of his career and send the series back to the ballpark where the Guardians thrived all season. The Guardians, 50-30 at Progressive Field, had the best home record in the American League in 2024. The Tigers will be favored in Game 5 because their ace, Tarik Skubal, is starting for them. He pitched seven shutout innings against the Guardians at Progressive Field in Game 2. But the Guardians have momentum on their side. They will have their fans on their side. And they have a manager who knows how to win big games on their side.