News and Notes - Extra Inning Success Behind Strong Starting Pitching

News and Notes for Thursday, May 2nd, 2024

The Cleveland Guardians faced the Houston Astros in the 2nd game of the 3-game series. It was a fun game.

Triston McKenzie took the mound Wednesday night against the Houston Astros, matching up against 41-year-old, future hall of famer Justin Verlander. Triston started the game strong, going 3.1 innings before giving up a hit to the blossoming Astros offense. The bottom of the 3rd gave McKenzie some trouble with Loperfido and Dubón on 1st and 2nd. Another defensive gem was generated from Rocchio and Giménez as they turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, helping McKenzie out of a sticky situation. Triston got a nice 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 4th thanks to a routine ground out, Josh Naylor snatching a sharp line out from midair, and Tyler Freeman running down a long, sharp line out to center field.

Triston’s height would play vital in getting the leadoff man, Jeremy Peña, out in the bottom of the 5th. A broken bat ground out to 1st base was snagged by Josh Naylor and underhanded to Triston who was able to tag the base in time to record the out. In part due to him being approximately 6 foot 370 inches tall. Josh Naylor would again assist his pitcher with another midair snatch for an unassisted double play keeping the 5th inning to 5 pitches for the starter.

Triston only threw 53 pitches going into the 6th inning, but would be bitten by a double from Dubón when José Altuve broke up the shutout with a single, scoring Dubón. Triston answered with a strike out that was followed by a ground out to end the inning. Having only thrown 70 pitches at this point in the night, Triston continued into the 7th inning.

Kyle Tucker only needed 2 pitches before he took advantage of a 91 mph four seamer down the center to tie the game with a solo HR. Triston was able to lock in to finish the 7th inning without any more damage. His dominant start was a much needed reprieve for the bullpen, going a full 7 innings on 90 pitches. Triston would finish with 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts and would join Bibee as the only other Cleveland starting pitcher to go 7 innings so far this season.

Scott Barlow came into the 8th inning and immediately gave up a double to Houston menace Dubón. Altuve hit a sharp line to 3rd straight at José Ramírez who threw perfectly to first baseman Josh Naylor to record the out, while the runner advanced to 3rd.

Barlow locked it in for a 7 pitch battle with Alex Bregman who ultimately popped out to Giménez. Manager Steven Vogt pulled Barlow at this point in favor of Tim Herrin to face Yordan Álverez for the 2nd night in a row. Herrin only needed 2 pitches to retire Yordan who lined out to right fielder Florial and would stay in to pitch the bottom of the 9th.

Josh Naylor continued to put in his bid for 1B All Star with heads up defense, keeping a hold on the ball thrown to him by second baseman Andrés Giménez while contorting his body to stay on the bag, recording the out. Unfortunately, Jeremy Peña singled to get the winning run on base forcing Vogt to call upon Cade Smith to face pinch hitter Yainer Díaz. Díaz delivered with a forced out single, advancing to 2nd on a rare throwing error from Andrés Giménez. Cade then faced Houston hero Caratini who had walked off the Tuesday night game. However, Cleveland’s rookie reliever would reign victorious as Caratini lined out to right fielder Florial to force the game into extra innings for the fourth consecutive game. A feat, according to Zack Meisel, not achieved by Cleveland baseball since 1910.

Cleveland turned to Clase for the 10th inning who started with a strong strikeout to Loperfido. Mauricio Dubón, who was locked into Cleveland pitching this game, lined out to 2-time Gold Glove left fielder Steven Kwan who had a humongous catch for the 2nd out.

The Houston ghost runner thought the ball was going to drop and broke for home with the intention to tie the game. However, it resulted in a silly 7-4 double play at 2nd base to end the game.

The offense started this game with consistent hitting, but was unable to capitalize with runners on base.

The first time through the lineup Kwan started with a strong single, but was out at 2nd when Giménez grounded into a force out. Andrés advanced to 2nd on a throwing error, but José and Josh both were unable to drive him home.

In the 2nd David Fry had a long single but was thrown out at 2nd on a perfect play by left fielder Joey Loperfido.

Rocchio hit a nice bloop single to get on base but ran himself out of the inning getting caught stealing 2nd base.

The top of the 4th started with back to back walks, but David Fry grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Finally in the top of the 5th inning Will Brennan would break the 0-0 tie score with a 377 ft HR to center field that left his bat at 102.5 mph. It is worth noting that Will Brennan is 2 home runs away from passing his total home run count from last year.

Rocchio followed up Brennan’s homerun with a patient walk. Setting up Steven Kwan for an RBI as he added another multi-hit game to his season and drove Rocchio home from 1st base on a triple line drive to the right field corner.

The offense would go dormant again starting in the 6th inning. A two out single from David Fry would not garner any runs. Unfortunately, Will Brennan would be sent down, ending the inning, after home plate umpire Angel Hernandez made his only questionable call on the night, claiming that Brennan struck out swinging which Will vocally disagreed with.

In the 8th inning Giménez had a bouncing single up the middle to the center fielder but would be left stranded again with a José fly out and Josh ground out to end the inning.

In the 9th inning, Brennan hit a sharp single into right field but would not be able to leave first base. Flo and Bo (Bo pinch hitting for Tyler Freeman) both challenged RHP Pressly with 7 pitch at bats each, but they would ultimately strike out, ending the 9th inning.

Apparently, the Cleveland offense decided it could only score in innings that were multiples of 5. The Guardians started the 10th inning with CF Gabriel Arias (defensive replacement for Bo Naylor who was brought in as a pinch hitter for Tyler Freeman) as the ghost runner on 2nd. Rocchio had another great plate appearance showing a calm patience and drawing a walk bringing Steven Kwan up to bat.

Kwan watched 2 balls and fouled off a fast ball in the zone before hitting a sharp go-ahead RBI double down the left field foul line, scoring Arias. This marked Kwan’s 7th, 3-hit game - the most in the majors.

Steven Kwan ended the night a home run short of the cycle.

The Guardians improved to 20-10 with Cade Smith getting his first career major league win going into the rubber match against the Astros.

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Cleveland Guardians News:

It was mentioned on the broadcast that Sam Hentges will be returning to the club very soon.

Mandy Bell sat down with Carl Willis to discuss the 2024 pitching staff.

Another interesting Kwan stat (going into Wednesday’s game):

Tyler Beede explains the origins of the celebratory post-game belt.

Around the League:

MLBPA announces new Mental Health & Wellness Program.

Suspensions handed out post Rays/Brewers brawl.

Twins extend their winning streak to 10 games but lose Byron Buxton in the process.

Jake Cronenworth hits a monster grand slam.

Stuart Fairchild robs Manny Machado of a homerun.