Game Recap: Ortiz dazzles as Guardians beat Royals 6-3

What a performance from Luis Ortiz

So that is the Luis Ortiz the Guardians traded for! The only hit he allowed tonight was the Home Run to Vinnie Pasquantino, who always seems to kill the Guardians. He struck out a career high ten batters and only walked two in 5.2 innings. He also recorded 17 swings and misses which was the most in the entire MLB on Saturday. This was exactly the performance we were all hoping to see from Ortiz. You could see the potential in the first two starts despite the not so great results, but it was so nice to see him put it all together.

How about Gabriel Arias??? I’m trying not to be a prisoner of the moment, but it is so hard to not get excited about Arias. He has always had elite tools, but he’s never been able to put it all together consistently, partly because he hasn’t received much consistent playing time in my opinion. Now that he is, he looks to be putting it all together. As someone who has been fooled many times in the past by Arias hot streaks, I’m going to stay cautious before I declare him the future SS, because the contact rates are still rough, and even though he’s walking more than he did in the past, he’s still chasing at a high rate. That being said, I am still very encouraged by what we’ve seen from Gabriel Arias this season. He currently is tied for the team lead in fWAR(0.5) with Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo, and he leads the team with a WRC+ of 154. I hope that he can remain consistent over the full season, because if he can, we could be looking at a special player.

Angel Martinez continues to be scorching hot since being called up. He went 2-4 tonight with a ground rule double and a hard hit single. He is consistently hitting the ball really hard right now and has increased his bat speed from last season. I believe he should be the everyday CF even when Lane Thomas comes back.

Tim Herrin, Paul Sewald, and Cade Smith combined for 2.1 scoreless relief innings. Smith in particular looked phenomenal, striking out two batters.

Is it time to be concerned about Emmanuel Clase? Before today, I would’ve said no, but I think it is fair to be mildly concerned at this point. Physically, he looks fine, it really appears to all be mental, which, I guess makes a little bit of sense after what happened in the playoffs last year. I think he will be fine, he just has to get over this mental hurdle and remember how to locate his pitches like he did in the past.

The Guardians will try and go for the sweep tomorrow at 1:40 PM Eastern Time. It will be Ben Lively vs the Royals’ Ace Cole Ragans, it should be a good one!