CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians don’t stop believing.
Fueled by Josh Naylor’s 16 th home run of the season and his hustle on the bases that led to an error and three more runs scoring in the seventh, the Guardians rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Royals 8-5 Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from the opener with the Royals and win No. 40 on the season.
Comeback kids – Tuesday night’s victory was the 15th come from behind win of the season for the Guardians, who improved to 40-20. “Our guys truly believe we're one rally, one hit away from starting a rally to come back and we don't quit,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “These guys don't quit, and it's just a testament to who they are. That's who they've always been, and it's just that belief that we're going to come back.” Cleveland fell behind 5-0 but scored three runs in the fourth, highlighted by Naylor’s two-run shot to the bleachers, and five more in the seventh, including Tyler Freeman’s fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast to tie the game at 5. “You got to finish the game, play full nine, anything can happen,” Naylor said. “Baseball's a wild game. One mistake can cost you and then one team can just go on a crazy run. And again, I don't think it started specifically this year. I think we've done it a lot in the past and it's just something we stick to it and we believe in and we know that no lead is safe on both sides, whether they're winning or losing. Just got to finish the game.”
Agent of chaos – Naylor’s hustle won this one for the Guardians. With two outs, the bases loaded and the game tied at 5 in the bottom of the seventh, Naylor was able to get a big secondary lead because Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was playing well off the bag. “Yeah, right-hand batter, so the first baseman's not really playing near me, so try to take advantage of a good lead and it worked out,” Naylor said. David Fry hit a grounder to Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who tried but failed to beat Naylor to second base. Witt quickly threw to first trying to get Fry to end the inning but the throw was wide of the bag and all three runners scored. “If Naylor doesn't beat him to second, that's an easy inning ending fielder's choice and we're probably still playing,” Vogt said. “But he got a really good secondary [lead]. [First base coach] Sandy [Alomar] told him, beat the throw at second, and he got a really good secondary [lead] and ran hard and beat him at second and caused chaos, and a three-run play.”
Big sticks – McKenzie was able to work through 5 1/3 innings but did not factor in the decision. The win went to reliever Cade Smith, his third of the season. McKenzie was charged with five runs that came courtesy of Witt’s two two-run homers and Hunter Renfroe’s fifth blast of the season. “I thought my stuff was probably the best it's been all year tonight,” McKenzie said. “Outside of some mistake pitches, I thought I gave up some weak hits. I gave up a couple of hits, but the only ones that I think really harmed me were the Bobby Witt homers. I think Refro just kind of ran into his.” McKenzie allowed nine hits, struck out seven, walked a pair and was charged with a wild pitch. “Actually thought Tristan was phenomenal, made a couple mistakes up in the zone that some pretty good hitters didn't miss, but for him to get us into the sixth and to get us to the bullpen, that deep into the game after kind of a rocky start for him, it was huge,” Vogt said. “And like I said, I thought he threw the ball way better than his line and that's the most consistent. I've seen Tristan's stuff start to finish this year.”
Still scoreless streaking – The Guardians bullpen continues to throw up zeros late in games to extends their scoreless streak to 23.0 innings thanks to 3.2 more shutout innings Tuesday night. “First of all, they're really good and nasty,” Vogt said. “They're prepared. They're ready for any role at any time left, right? Doesn't matter. And they just, again, I keep going back to the belief. They believe they're going to go in throw zero and come out. And this group has gotten it to the point where when they don't do that, it's kind of like, what just happened? And that's the mark of just a really good bullpen. And these guys feed off each other. They have each other's backs, and it's just a really, really talented special group out there.” Emmanuel Clase picked up his 19 th save of the season.
Second-best – Cleveland matched their second-best start through 60 games in team history joining the 1999 Indians. The team has been 42-18 twice – 1954 and 1995.
Up next – Game two of the series Wednesday evening at 6:40 p.m. RHP Nick Sandlin (4-0, 2.77) vs. RHP Brady Singer (4-2, 2.63)
Most Popular
Comments / 0