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Weaver went to his best pitch, and he put it in a spot that has given Thomas a lot of trouble of late. Thomas likes pitches in, but that specific spot, in the lowest corner of the strike zone, is an issue. He had just a .258 wOBA on pitches there this year, .240 over the last two years. Previously, though, it had been a sweet spot for him -- a .481 wOBA from 2019-22.
Thomas channeled that muscle memory, got the bat head through, and hammered a ball high off the left-center wall. It looked a little like the homer he hit off Tarik Skubal that sent the Guardians to this series, the homer he hit the last time they won a game. If Thomas doesn’t battle back from 0-2 against a pitcher who doesn’t let guys battle back from 0-2, in the biggest PA of his career, we’re all talking about brooms today. Thomas was as big a hero as anyone who followed him to the plate.
