Travis Bazzana's MLB debut had the weirdest ending for the Guardians originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Cleveland Guardians trailed the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0, and Angel Martinez doubled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. In stepped Travis Bazzana, the former No. 1 overall pick making his MLB debut.

Bazzana's family was in town from Australia. A whole ballpark rose to its feet in anticipation.

Up to that point, Bazzana had struck out, flown out to left-center, and walked. This was his chance at a heroic ending to his first major league game.

He went ahead in the count 2-0, and that's when things got weird.

Instead of continuing to pitch to Bazzana, the Rays held up four fingers and put him on first base with an intentional walk.

MORE: This might be the weirdest way to get an inside-the-park HR

It was the kind of move that teams rarely, rarely make. It put the walk-off run on first base, rather than in the batter's box.

Bazzana isn't known as a slugger, either. He has some pop, but the odds of him hitting a walk-off homer weren't that high, even if the stage seemed set for it.

Rays manager Kevin Cash decided to avoid that potential outcome, although it could've backfired in a major way if pinch-hitter George Valera followed up with any damage.

But Valera struck out, and that meant Cash's decision worked out.

It was a weird one, though, and one that bummed out the whole Cleveland fanbase hoping to see Bazzana do something special.

Bazzana will have plenty more moments to win a game for his ballclub. In his first, though, the bat was taken out of his hands.

Explaining the absurdity of 2 MLB players named Max Muncy

This hitter has a worse OBP than his batting average

This slider is really good and moves the entirely wrong direction