Cleveland Sports Forum

Just went on the DL after initially expected to be back last Wednesday. The biggest worry is that this is the 3rd time with the same issue.

more serious is Kwan sore hamstring; he says he's had this problem in college and has some worries about it
I can't see the offense doing much without him. Although they scored 7-post Kwan runs yesterday.
Florial is the substitute leadoff hitter. He is not likely to continue Kwan's 73 AB without strikeout streak.
4 sub 200 averages in today's lineup

Today's two starters have ERAs of just over 7 and just under 7. So I guess we can expect a scoreless duel.

Jose Ramirez lifts Guardians to 2-1 win over Detroit with sixth-inning homer

Updated: May. 06, 2024, 8:42 p.m.|Published: May. 06, 2024, 8:35 p.m.

y Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jose Ramirez is slowly starting to look like Jose Ramirez again.

On a cold Monday night at Progressive Field, Ramirez gave the Guardians a 2-1 win over AL Central rival Detroit with a homer off the foul pole in right field with one out in the sixth inning off Jack Flaherty.

In Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Angels, Ramirez brought the Guardians from behind with a two-run homer in the sixth. Two innings later Josh Naylor finished the job with another two-run homer.

Ramirez is still hitting only .232, but he has seven homers and a team-high 28 RBI to add some muscle to it. Monday’s homer was his 29th in 143 games against the Tigers. It was the 223rd of his career, leaving him four shy of passing Hall of Famer Earl Averill for fourth on the franchise homer list.

Rookie Kyle Manzardo made his big league debut. It could have gone better as he struck out three straight times. But at least he didn’t get cheated, going down swinging all three times.

For Hunter Gaddis, Monday’s game represented a return to the norm. After opening the year with 13 scoreless appearances to become Cleveland’s set-up man, he blew three straight saves on the last trip against Atlanta and Houston.

Gaddis entered Monday’s game in the eighth and protected the 2-1 lead despite allowing two hits. When he struck out pinch-hitter Wenceel Perez to end the inning, the 6-6 Gaddis walked off the mound pounding his glove in celebration.

The Tigers and Guards were tied, 1-1, after the first inning.

Riley Greene gave Detroit a 1-0 lead when he drove Triston McKenzie’s first pitch of the game over the wall in center. It was his third career leadoff homer.

McKenzie struck out the next three batters to end the inning.

Esteven Florial, batting leadoff, initiated Cleveland’s quick response with a double past first. Flaherty retired Andres Gimenez and Jose Ramirez, but Josh Naylor walked and Will Brennan singled to right to score Florial and tie the game.

The inning may have offered more, but Naylor tried to go from first to third on the bloop single and Kerry Carpenter’s throw to Matt Vierling at third arrived in plenty of time to retire Naylor and end the inning.

The Guardians did not put on a baserunning clinc on a this chilly May night. Will Brennan was thrown out attempting to steal second in the fourth. In the fifth, Tyler Freeman doubled with one out. Brayan Rocchio sent a grounder to short as Freeman tried to advance to third, but was caught in rundown for the second out.

McKenzie lasted five innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks. His career ERA against the Tigers in eight starts is 1.13 (six earned runs in 48 innings).

Flaherty (0-2, 3.86) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out six to give him 56 punchouts for the season.

Sam Hentges, in his 2024 debut, started the sixth in relief of McKenzie., Carpenter reached on catcher’s interference against Bo Naylor. Spencer Torkelson flied out to right and pinch-hitter Andy Ibanez lined out Ramirez at third. The ball left Ibanez’s bat at 102 mph.

When Hentges walked Parker Meadows, Nick Sandlin relieved and struckout Javier Baez to end the inning.

The Guardians activated Hentges before the game. The left-hander opened the year on the injured list he was sidelined during spring training with swelling in his left middle finger.

Monday’s game was the first meeting between the Guardians and Tigers this year. Detroit won the season series last year, 9-4.

The win went to Nick Sandlin (3-0) with Emmanuel Clase retiring the Tigers in order in the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances.

Next:

LHP Logan Allen (3-2, 5..11) vs. RHP Kenta Maeda (1-1, 5.03) Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS, WARF and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.


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RAMIREZ GOES OFF THE FOUL POLE

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CLASE CLOSES IT OUT


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TRISTEN FANS 6

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BRENNAN RBI SINGLE

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CONDENSED GAME

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Classic debut for Manzardo.
It's only uphill from here.

I note RH hitters doing much better vs. Maeda than lefties [6 of the 8 homers he's allowed; 263 vs 241 batting average.
Cleveland starts 8 left handed bats.

Seems like a lot of first batter opponent home runs this year.

Guardians punch themselves out early in 11-7 loss to Tigers after short start by Logan Allen

Updated: May. 07, 2024, 9:09 p.m.|Published: May. 07, 2024, 8:57 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Manager Stephen Vogt often talks about his team’s ability to respond to adversity.

“If we get punched in the mouth, we punch back,” he has said frequently this season.

In Tuesday night’s 11-7 loss to the Tigers, the Guardians may have punched themselves out early. They scored seven runs in the first two innings while overcoming deficits of 1-0 and 5-2, but had nothing left for the final seven innings at Progressive Field.

The game started with a flurry of offense that Logan Allen and Kenta Maeda, the starting pitchers for the Guardians and Tigers, respectively, were unable to stop. Allen and Maeda combined to allow 14 runs on 14 hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Second baseman Andy Ibanez set the tone for the Tigers by going 4 for 4 with two homers, four runs and four RBI.

Ibanez hit the third pitch of the game for a home run off Allen. It was Detroit’s second leadoff homer of the series. The only difference was Riley Greene hit Triston McKenzie’s first pitch on Monday night.

The Guardians responded quickly to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on Will Brennan’s two-out double off Maeda. Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor reached on walks before Brennan came to the plate.

Brennan entered the game hitting .368 (7 for 19) in May and .321 (9 for 28) in his career against Detroit. The lead did not last long.

Detroit made it 5-2 with four runs in the second off Allen. Ibanez hurt Allen again, this time with a three-run homer to right field.

Jake Rogers doubled and Spencer Torkelson walked to start the inning. When Ryan Vilade grounded into a double play it looked like Allen had a chance for a low-stress inning. But Javier Baez, after singling to tie the score, took second on a wild pitch and third on catcher Bo Naylor’s throwing error.

Allen walked Carson Kelly, the No. 9 hitter, who entered the game hitting .185. Ibanez once again hit Allen’s third pitch of the at-bat, this time into the right field seats for a 5-2 lead.

It was the ninth homer Allen has allowed this season.

Once again the Guardians responded.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run single off Maeda followed by Josh Naylor’s two-run homer to complete a five-run second inning for a 7-5 Cleveland lead.

Bo Naylor started the inning with a single. Brayan Rocchio reached on a one-out walk and Estevan Florial doubled home Naylor to make it 5-3. Maeda retired Andres Gimenez for the second out, but Ramirez sent a sharp single through the middle to score Rocchio and Florial to tie the score, 5-5.

The single gave Ramirez 113 career RBI against the Tigers, the second most by an active player. It also tied him with Hall of Famer Larry Doby for ninth on the franchise RBI list with 776.

osh Naylor untied it with a two-run homer off a 0-2 fastball by Maeda for a 7-5 lead. It was Naylor’s ninth homer and second in the last three games.

It seemed strange that after the two teams combined for 14 runs and 13 hits in the first three innings, the Tigers would take a 8-7 lead in the fourth on a double-play grounder by Matt Vierling. But that’s what happened.

Ibanez, who opened the inning with a single for his third straight hit, took third on Wenceel Perez’s single. From there he scored on the double play.

The Guardians had a chance to tie, but a bad baserunning decision by Ramirez cost them. Ramirez started the fifth with a hustle double to left. Josh Naylor sent a grounder to Baez at short with Ramirez trying to advance to third. Baez threw to third for the easy out.

Detroit put the game away with on Ryan Vilade’s single in the seventh and Vierling’s two-run single in the eighth.

This was not a night for starting pitchers.

Allen came out for the third, but Greene greeted him with a single and Torkelson’s one-out double sent him to third. Allen’s night, representing his shortest big league start, was over as little-used Pedro Avila (1-1) relieved.

Vilade welcomed Avila with a two-run single to tie the score at 7. It was Vilade’s first big league hit.

Allen allowed seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two on 63 pitches.

Maeda did not not come out for third. He allowed seven runs on five hits in two innings. He walked three while throwing 59 pitches.

In 2020, Maeda faced Cleveland three times and went 3-0 with an 0.50 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 18 innings.

Since then he is 0-1 in four starts with a 10.70 ERA. He has allowed 20 earned runs in that span.

Tyler Holton (3-0) went three innings for the win.

Next:

RHP Tanner Bibee (2-1, 4.46) vs. RHP Reese Olson (0-4, 2.70) Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS, WARF and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.


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FLORIAL RBI DOUBLE

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RAMIREZ RBI SINGLE

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CONDENSED GAME

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Allen would benefit from some remedial work in Columbus. Unfortunately, there is no one there to replace him. Curry is having a terrible start and no one else is close to major league quality

After 5 strikeouts Manzado hit two fair balls. Every day he gets a little better.

Day game; Bibee 4.46 ERA needs to pitch a good one.

Fry is the LF today but Florial remains in the lineup leading off and today he' s in RF. Not quite Kwan, he does walk fairly often, just under 10% of the time, but 28 strikeouts, about 40% of his plate appearances, is very unKwanlike

Top of the order goes 0-15 but the bottom half comes through with 5 timely hits and the win
Hedges 2 run single in the first.
But Bibee again not sharp; leaves trailing 4-2 after 4 innings.
6 shutout innings follow from the relief corps

Manzardo's first hit, a pinch single, in the 7th,
Rocchio single starts the 8th, steals second, to third on the bad throw, scores on a Giminez ground out
Fry delivers a gametying homer in the 9th.
and Rocchio with the game winning single in the 10th.

I do have to feel sorry for Tigers starter Reese Olson, he's still winless on the season, after 7 starts. In one he was touched for 6 runs and 9 hits In the other 6 he has never allowed more than 2 runs. 3 rate as "quality starts".

In those 6 games he's totaled 35 innings, 20 hits, 13 walks [0.95 WHIP] 32 strikeouts, NO homeruns, 5 earned runs; ERA 1.29.
Today he gave up one hit: Hedges' first inning rbi single in 6 innings.

After 5 strikeouts Manzado hit two fair balls. Every day he gets a little better.

And I keep waiting for a Johnathan Rodriguez sighting

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Guardians rally past Tigers for 5-4 win in 10 innings

Updated: May. 08, 2024, 5:52 p.m.|Published: May. 08, 2024, 3:55 p.m.

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Brayan Rocchio’s line drive single to center scored Ramón Laureano with the game-winning run off Detroit’s Alex Lange as the Guardians rallied for a 5-4 win in 10 innings at Progressive Field.

It was Rocchio’s first career walk-off plate appearance and the third walk-off win for Cleveland this season.

David Fry launched a solo home run to right field with one out in the ninth off Tigers left-hander Andrew Chafin that forced extra innings and handed Chafin his second blown save.

Fry, who moved behind the plate in the eighth after starting in left field, entered the game hitting .391 in 23 at-bats against left-handed pitching. It marked his second home run of the year and first against a lefty. Manager Stephen Vogt said Fry’s versatility is part of the DNA of the roster.

“I can’t speak enough to what David means to us being able to catch, play first, play third, play outfield, and obviously come up with clutch hit after clutch hit when he’s not playing every day,” Vogt said. “He’s just a baseball player and David’s invaluable for us.”

Fry is hitting .429 with five RBI during at-bats in the eighth inning or later this season.

Emmanuel Clase picked up the win thanks, in part, to some nifty defense by Rocchio and Andrés Giménez in the top of the 10th.

With automatic runner Javier Baez at second, pinch hitter Ryan Vilade sent a smash to short that Rocchio fielded and threw behind Baez to Giménez, who applied the tag at second. It erased a runner in scoring position and allowed Clase (2-1, 0.47) to get the final two outs on a strikeout of Riley Greene and an Andy Ibanez ground out.

Vogt credited Rocchio for his ability to read Baez’s movements and react.

“For him to quick-flip it to Gimi and also Gimi gave him the whistle that he had the play (in front of him),” Vogt said. “They’re always communicating whether we hear it or not, and just a heads up play by Rocchio right there to get that out.”

In the bottom of the 10th, Tyler Freeman’s sacrifice bunt moved Laureano — the automatic runner — to third and set up Rocchio’s heroics. Detroit pulled center fielder Wenceel Perez to the infield before Rocchio lined a first-pitch curveball from Lange (0-2, 0.64) over his head and touched off a celebration as he rounded first base.

Rocchio’s ninth career multi-hit game ended in a mobbing by his teammates.

“The real feeling is that sense of confidence from all the guys cheering me on because they’ve been through the ups and downs and they’ve been supporting me even in hard times,” Rocchio said via Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Right now for me that’s all really good to get that support and then continue pushing to do better.

Cleveland has 11 comeback wins and is now 6-2 in extra-inning games. The Guardians won a series against the Tigers for the first time since Aug. 11, 2022.

Guardians starter Tanner Bibee continued to struggle with putting hitters away, and Cleveland’s offense struggled to find baserunners for most of the afternoon.

Bibee was gone after just four innings, equaling his shortest outing of the season. He threw 44 pitches in the fourth as the Tigers turned a two-run deficit into a 4-2 lead. Ibanez, who slugged a pair of home runs to lead the Tigers to a win Tuesday, opened the inning with a 10-pitch at-bat that he capped with a leadoff single.

Ibanez fouled off five consecutive pitches from Bibee before getting a hanging slider that he could handle and pulling it through the left side. The at-bat seemed to take the steam out of Bibee’s outing as Kerry Carpenter followed with a one-out double to right that put a pair of runners in scoring position for Colt Keith.

Keith delivered a two-run single into right center that knotted the score at two runs apiece, and gave him 10 RBI. Zach McKinstry gave Detroit the lead with an RBI single to left and Baez’s RBI sacrifice fly to right added to the Tigers’ advantage.

But as it has all season, Cleveland’s bullpen came through with six scoreless innings of relief work to pick up Bibee. Sam Hentges, Nick Sandlin and Hunter Gaddis each worked multiple scoreless innings to get the ball to Clase. Sandlin struck out a pair while Gaddis worked around a Kerry Carpenter double in the eighth.

Vogt was almost at a loss for words when asked to describe his bullpen’s effort to this point in the season.

“If they didn’t do what they did, we were not even talking about the 10th inning,” Vogt said. “What the bullpen has done up to this point this year has been nothing short of remarkable. And these guys don’t get enough credit for it. They take the ball, they go as long as they can every single night and they pick us up and they allow us chances to win.”

Reese Olson to settle in after the second inning. Olson, winless in his previous six starts, limited the Guardians to one hit and a pair of walks over six innings and retired the final 14 batters he faced.

Olson was victimized by a defensive miscue in the second that allowed the Guardians to score first. After Josh Naylor drew a leadoff walk, Fry sent a ground ball to third base that Zach McKinstry fired to second to start a double play. But Ibanez, dropped McKinstry’s throw, allowing Naylor to advance to third as Fry dove head-first safely into second.

A Will Brennan walk loaded the bases before Gabriel Arias struck out, but Austin Hedges delivered a two-run single through the hole between third and short for a 2-0 advantage. Hedges entered the game batting .143 with runners in scoring position, including two RBI.

Hedges, who belted a two-run home run in his last start on Saturday, has multiple RBI in back-to-back games for the first time since June 28, 2021.

Kyle Manzardo, added to the roster on Monday from Triple-A Columbus had been 0 for 7 with five strikeouts before his pinch-hit appearance in the seventh. Manzardo lined a single to left off Tigers righty Jason Foley. Tigers pitchers had retired 16 straight before Manzardo’s first big league hit.

Rocchio led off the eighth with a single against Tigers lefty Joey Wentz and stole second before advancing to third on catcher Jake Rogers’ throwing error. Rocchio scored when Giménez checked his swing on a fastball from Wentz, but put the ball in play as it hit the knob of his bat.

Ibanez fielded the slow grounder and threw Giménez out at first as Rocchio crossed the plate, cutting Detroit’s lead to a run. Cleveland challenged the ruling on the field that Giménez was out at first, but the call was confirmed by replay.

Fry said the Guardians stayed positive, even when they were trailing late in the game and scratching for hits.

“We talk about it all the time when we’re down,” Fry said. “It’s just like, ‘Yeah, we’re probably going to win tonight, no matter what the score is.’ And even before the game, you’re just walking in, you’re like, ‘Yeah, we feel like we’re going to win the series today.’ It’s just the confidence we have as a group and just belief we have in one another.”

Next:

The Guardians open a seven-game road trip in Chicago on Thursday. Right-hander Ben Lively (1-1, 2.08) will take the mound for Cleveland while the White Sox counter with righty Erick Fedde (2-0, 3.46). First pitch from Guaranteed Rate Field is set for 7:40 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WMMS 100.7 FM and the Guardians Radio Network will carry the game.


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ROCCHIO WALK OFF HIT IN THE 10TH

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FRY GAME TYING HOMER IN THE 9TH

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ROCCHIO DEFENSIVE GEM AT SHORT

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HEDGES 2-RUN BASE HIT

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CONDENSED GAME

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