Three Positives From the Week of May 18th

A big week for the Guardians has them back in the hunt.

After an overall positive week, the Cleveland Guardians are finally back on the up. Here are the three most positive moments from the past week in Cleveland.

Enright Makes Debut

In the 20th round of the 2019 draft, the Cleveland Guardians selected RHP Nic Enright from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He spent the next three years climbing his way up the Minor League ladder where he eventually made it to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers in 2022. He was then selected by the Miami Marlins in the 2022 Rule-5 draft. At the beginning of the following season, his life was forever changed when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He very quickly beat the odds that were stacked against him, however, and made a few rehab appearances with the Single-A Jupiter Hammerheads and Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp later that month. At the end of that May, he was designated for assignment by the Marlins and returned to Cleveland. He worked hard for two seasons in Columbus and finally got the call on Sunday. He took the mound in the seventh inning and stayed on for the eighth, giving up no runs on just two hits and striking out three. I’d say that’s a pretty good start to a career.

Lane-Train Returns

After quickly heading to the 10-day Injured List after the beginning of the season, Lane Thomas has not had many opportunities to be on the field and contribute to his team. That changed on Thursday when the Guardians activated him prior to their game versus the division rival Detroit Tigers. While he has yet to get hot, Thomas has contributed an RBI and a walk in the two games since his return. If he can return to early-career Lane Thomas and get his numbers up during the heat of the season (and stay healthy), he could be a major part of this team. Here’s hoping all of those things come true this season.

Guards Take Big Series

In perhaps the biggest series of this young season, the Guards took on the division-leading Detroit Tigers and took care of business. The Tigers rolled into town with a first-place 33-17 record while the Guardians sat at third place at 26-22. That all changed after the weekend as the now second-place Guardians sit at 29-23, closing in on the Tigers’ 34-20. The weekend was headlined by a big 7-0 win in the series opener and a 7-5 10-inning win in Saturday night’s thriller. While the team couldn’t make anything happen again last year’s Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, winning this series was exactly what they needed to do. Hopefully, this will keep their spirits high as we head into the most important stretch of the season.