Rookies to hit walk-off homers in the postseason

The postseason is where heroes are made, and while it’s rare, there are times when the hero is a rookie who shines on the big October stage with a walk-off home run. On Saturday, the Guardians’ Oscar Gonzalez joined that exclusive club, which had consisted of three members before Gonzalez’s walk-off homer in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series between the Guardians and Rays sent Cleveland to the AL Division Series.

Here’s a look at the four occasions on which a rookie hit a walk-off homer in a postseason contest:

2022 ALWCS Game 2: Oscar Gonzalez, Guardians
Gonzalez brought an end to the longest scoreless game, by innings, in postseason history and sent Cleveland to the ALDS with a solo homer over the left-field wall in the bottom of the 15th inning at Progressive Field. It was the second postseason walk-off homer in franchise history (joining Tony Pena, Game 1, 1995 ALDS). Gonzalez's dinger came on the second pitch he saw from Rays right-hander and former Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland, Corey Kluber. Gonzalez launched 11 home runs in the regular season before delivering in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series.

2014 NLCS Game 2: Kolten Wong, Cardinals
With the Cardinals and Giants tied, 4-4, in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium, Wong lined a walk-off shot to right on the second pitch he saw from San Francisco reliever Sergio Romo. It tied the series at one game apiece, and although St. Louis would go on to lose the series in five games, Wong hit another homer in Game 4 and totaled three homers that postseason overall. The other came in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, in which he hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh in a 3-1 Cardinals victory.

2005 NLDS Game 4: Chris Burke, Astros
In the 18th inning of Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS, Burke crushed a breaking-ball off Braves right-hander Joey Devine into the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park to end what at the time was the longest postseason game in baseball history. It was also the first postseason-series-clinching home run in Astros history. The light-hitting utility man entered the game as a pinch-runner for Lance Berkman in the 10th inning and had walked and flied out before coming up in the 18th. Burke hit just five home runs over 108 regular-season games before his big moment. He’d hit only 18 more in his big league career.

2001 ALCS Game 4: Alfonso Soriano, Yankees
Soriano’s first postseason home run came in a big moment – just a night after the Mariners lit up Yankees pitching for 14 runs, the clubs were scoreless through the first seven innings before each broke through for a run in the eighth. Still tied at 1 in the bottom of the ninth and facing All-Star Kazuhiro Sasaki, Soriano, batting ninth in the lineup, sent the 1-1 pitch just over the wall in right-center, flipping the momentum of the series back in the Yankees’ favor, giving his club a 3-1 series lead.