CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Once again the Guardians bounced back and flexed their muscle.
Steven Kwan collected two more hits, including his ninth home run, and Jhonkensy Noel also homered and drove in 2 in the Guardians 5-4 win over the Giants Saturday at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from Game 2 with the Giants.
Kwan-boom – Kwan slugged his ninth home run of the season with one out in the bottom of the second. The ball landed in the shrubs beyond center field 408 feet away. “This is the only Steven Kwan that I've seen, right. So I'd like to say I'm not surprised, but every day he seems to keep doing things,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I mean now he's leaving [the yard] to center field for crying out loud, so he knows the pitches he can drive, he knows how to hit and he's putting together a special year.” The All-Star’s 2-4 afternoon raised his MLB-leading average to .365, 44 points ahead of Kansas City’s Bobby Witt jr., who is hitting .321.
Jump in front – A day after leaving 11 on base and going 0-11 with runners in scoring position, the Guardians wasted no time jumping in front Saturday afternoon with a three spot in the bottom of the first. A groundout by Josh Naylor with the bases loaded, a sac fly to deep center off the bat of Noel and a Tyler Freeman RBI single got them the early lead.
Kids fittin’ in – Noel and Angel Martinez have been impressive since being called up. “Those guys are amazing,” catcher Bp Naylor, who played with both in the minor leagues, said. “I've had a lot of experience with them in the minors, so kind of seeing them now come into the players that I always knew that they'd be, that a lot of everyone in this clubhouse knew that they could be, it's huge and I'm super happy for them.” Although he did not collect a hit, Martinez walked twice and has reached base in nine of his 14 plate appearances since being called up. Martinez joins Kwan as the only players in club history to draw at least six walks in their first five games. Noel, who just missed hitting a grand slam in the first inning, has homered three times and driven in five since making his debut June 26. “They've had great at bats since they’ve been here,” Vogt said. “And obviously Jhonkensy's power. I mean I thought he just missed that first one. He got in on him, just a tick still at 107 miles an hour. But he had great at bats today, both he and Angel.”
K-9 – Starter Logan Allen didn’t factor in the decision after departing with one out in the fifth inning but he struck out a season-high nine batters. “They made him work,” Vogt said. “He threw a lot of pitches, but man, he was punching people out, getting outs, did a great job. His pitch count got up there pretty quick. They did a good job battling him, but he did a great job.” Allen allowed two earned runs on three hits with four walks before turning things over to the bullpen. “I think it's just kind of like you give and take,” Allen said. “You have days where your stuff is good and you're kind of going for swing and miss. That leads to probably throwing a few more balls out of the zone, but kind happy with the way it turned out. Obviously, probably want a few of those three, two walks back, but at the end of the day, that's probably the difference in going a little deeper in the game. But all in all, happy to get a win and have the team keep going.”
Clase dismissed – Emmanuel Clase picked up his American league leading 26 th save, his ninth consecutive scoreless appearance in the ninth. “You just know that he's going to come out throwing fire,” Bo Naylor said. “That's it. He comes out with his stuff ready and he's always living for the moment. One run, three runs, 10 runs, he's always ready and he's down for any situation, no matter what the pressure. So when you have a guy like that on your side, it's super special. We love him over here.” Clase lowered his MLB-best ERA to 0.65.
Live BP – Left hander Matthew Boyd threw a two-inning live batting practice session Saturday. Boys topped out at 93 mph on his fastball and his off-speed pitches came in in the 77-84 mph range. “For me it was the life on the fastball and the command,” Vogt said. “I thought he looked really good in that two-inning live BP sim game, whatever you want to call it today, and thought all of his pitches were moving well, the fastball had really good life. That was the feedback we were hearing from our hitters too, was fastball was jumping. So he looks really good. Obviously he's got a ways to go in his progression and build back up, but that was really, really encouraging today.”
Another sellout – The Guardians sold out their ninth game of the season, the most since the 2018 season when the team also sold out nine games, with a crowd of 36,081 Saturday. The Guardians, who have drawn 165,059 through five games on the homestand, have seen a 19.6% increase in attendance with 995,505 fans in 2024.
Up next – Series finale with the Giants Sunday at 1:40 p.m. RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 5.21) vs. RHP Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 4.66).
Most Popular
Comments / 0