Ryan Merritt sprinted out of the visitors’ dugout at Rogers Centre and was the first Indians player on the field. The pitcher ran across the turf, jumped over the first-base chalk line and plucked the baseball from the mound dirt before getting ready for some warmup tosses.
That display at the start of the third inning Wednesday made one thing very clear: Even with a trip to the World Series on the line, Merritt was not overwhelmed. The small-town kid from Texas was eager and ready to take on Toronto’s lineup, and his name will now be remembered for decades by Tribe fans after the Indians’ 3-0 win over the Blue Jays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
“I loved it,” fellow Indians starter Josh Tomlin said amidst the champagne mist in the visitors’ clubhouse. “I loved every second of it.”
Merritt was counted out before the game even began. With a fastball that registers around 86 mph — slower than Carlos Carrasco’s changeup — the Blue Jays’ lineup was supposed to be licking its chops and sending souvenirs into the left-field seats. Instead, Merritt flirted with the edges of the zone, pumped strike after strike after strike, worked into the fifth and helped push the Indians to their first World Series berth since 1997.
Circumstances led to Merritt being in this position. With right-handers Danny Salazar and Carrasco injured, Cleveland’s rotation has been whittled down to three: Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Tomlin. Merritt was not even going to be on the ALCS roster, but plans changed when Bauer cut open his right pinkie finger Thursday night. The Indians went with Merritt as insurance, and then handed him the ball for Game 5.
Before the game, Indians manager Terry Francona passed the 24-year-old lefty and shared a few words.
“I just wanted to let him know this isn’t life or death,” Francona said.
There were nerves — plenty of them — but Cleveland picked Merritt for a reason. The Indians’ advance scouting of Toronto’s lineup led to a few discoveries. First, the Blue Jays are susceptible to breaking balls. That is why Kluber and Tomlin set career highs in curves thrown in Games 1 and 2. Cleveland also found that having a lefty who can get ahead quick can tilt the percentages in the Indians’ favor.
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