Logan T. Allen, Angel Martínez, and Steven Kwan lead the Guards to victory.
The Cleveland Guardians faced the Baltimore Orioles on a chilly and windy night in Camden Yards. The first game of the series seemed like a lock with the very active Cleveland bats, but the bullpen faltered a bit, keeping things interesting.
- Logan T Allen had himself a fantastic start tonight in Baltimore. In his 5.2 innings of work he only allowed two hits and two walks, but struck out six batters despite the windy conditions. Overall a fantastic performance which the offense supported to keep the pressure off of him.
- On a night where every fly ball is tracking everywhere except where its hit, defense is vital to keeping a pitcher in for as long as possible. In the bottom of the second a ball was hit to José that otherwise would be routinely turned. It bounced off the heel of his glove but was immediately recovered by Rocchio who made a great throw to first to end the inning.
- Don’t let this play fool you. Rocchio is still on his “two steps forward, one step back” playstyle. While he had this gem and a solid hit, he also air mailed a throw to first and made another poor base running decision to end the 3rd inning rally.
- Guardians hitters took advantage of every pitching mistake, loading the bases with two walks (Bo Naylor and Steven Kwan) for José Ramírez. Ramírez hit a sac fly to center to put the Guards first run on the board. In the top of the fifth, the momentum continued with Angel Martínez hitting a lead off trip to right field. Bo Naylor hit a sac fly to score Angel, emptying the bases. Brayan Rocchio drew a four pitch walk to set Steven Kwan up for his third home run of the year, adding two to the scoreboard.
- In the top of the sixth, Arias and Angel set things up again with back to back singles. A sac bunt from Bo advanced both runners and Arias was brought home with a sac fly from Rocchio. Kwan got another hit on the night, an RBI single to right that scored Angel putting the Guards up 6-0.
- Joey Cantillo came in to relieve Paul Sewald (who struck out the final batter of the sixth). With the wind and a spurt of rain, Cantillo wasn’t able to keep the game scoreless. He gave up a one-out 396ft home run to Cedric Mullins and a two-out double to Jorge Mateo before Vogt made the call to the bullpen.
- Cade Smith got the last out of the seventh and remained in for the bottom of the 8th. After striking out Adley Rutschman and Tyler O’Neill allowed two doubles and a single to cut the Guardians lead in half. He struck out Cedric Mullins to retire the side.
- The offense remained quiet in the ninth, turning things over to closer Emmanuel Clase. The Guardians scored six on eleven hits with Kwan, José, Angel, and Arias leading the offense. Kwan finished the night going 2-for-4 with three RBI, a home run, and a walk. Arias and José both went 2-for-4. Arias had a run and José an RBI. Angel went 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs, and a stolen base.
- Clase looked better than his last few outings. He struck out lead off hitter Heston Kjerstad to retire the first batter. Ryan O’Hearn singled on a line drive to right that wasn’t fielded cleanly by Angel. Clase wasn’t hurt by the runner on second, retiring the side when Adley hit a liner to Kwan.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Angel sit tomorrow after that final play in right. He was hit in the wrist area and was shaking his hand during the final two outs. It didn’t look to be anything worth being concerned about, but with Lane Thomas back, there’s no reason to not give the young utility player a day off. He’s been electric since his call up, matching his impressive efforts in Columbus. Hopefully electricity is sustainable and Angel becomes a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the plate.
Tomorrow the Guards have the opportunity to lock in another series win in game two of the three game series. First pitch is at 6:35PM EDT with the Big Rig, Gavin Williams taking the mound for Cleveland.