CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians got an unlikely hero to save the day.
Will Brennan clobbered a two-out, three-run home run to the seats in right in the bottom of the ninth to complete a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.
“It was an exciting game, obviously,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Really, really glad we came out on top. Our guys don't quit.”
Here’s the top news and notes from the series finale with the Twins.
Will to win – They aren’t perfect – see the ninth inning – but the Guardians continue to find ways to win no matter what. Brennan was Sunday’s hero after Minnesota elected to intentionally walk Josh Naylor with two outs. “I just told David Fry, you could hear a pin drop in the park after that ninth inning, just a roller coaster and I knew as soon as Gimenez got second they were going to walk Naylor,” Brennan said. “So it's just kind of been that situation all year where I haven't taken advantage of it and kind of took it personal. That's what Naylor always tells me to do and paid off. I swung at a good pitch and ripped one.” Brennan almost never came to the plate because Andres Gimenez nearly got picked off at second following a wild pitch that saw him advance from first, but he got caught in no man’s land between second and third base. After originally being called out on the field trying to get back to second, a crew replay review showed Gimenez got his hand on the bag before the tag and the call was overturned. Jose Ramirez flied to right for the second out and Josh Naylor was intentionally walked in front of Brennan. The rest is history. “That was beautiful,” Vogt said.
Saving the day – Closer Emmanuel Clase and the Guardians were a pitch away from his 14th save and the sweet in the top of the ninth before a defensive meltdown. First, Clase hit Ryan Jeffers with two outs. Willi Castro grounded to shortstop Brayan Rocchio, who tried to beat pinch runner Byron Buxton to the bag at second instead of throwing to first, but he was a half-step late putting runners at first and second. A Guardians replay challenge of the play was not successful. “It looked like a foot race,” Vogt said. “And even when we saw the replay, I was like, I don't know if there's enough there to overturn it. It was a play where you go to first, you can go footrace. It's his call. Obviously it didn't work in our favor.” Alex Kirilloff slapped a grounder to Josh Naylor at first, but Clase didn’t field the throw from Naylor at the bag cleanly allowing Kirilloff to reach and Buxton to score from second base while the Guardians looked around in disbelief following the fielding error, tying the game at 2. “[Clase] just dropped the ball and chaos was ensuing and we made a mistake and they took advantage,” Vogt said.
Quick start – Gimenez clubbed a two-run home run to center to give the Guardians an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. It was the third homer of the season for Gimenez, who has now hit safely in seven straight games.
Belief in Bibee – With two outs in the top of the seventh and runners at first and second, Vogt came out for a visit, and it appeared Tanner Bibee’s day was done considering he was at 90 pitches. Voght stuck with him after quoting Roger Dorn to Rick Vaughn from the end of Major League. “He goes, ‘you're not leaving this mound,’ Bibee said. “And I was kind of shocked at first, then I kind of locked it back in and he says, ‘you're going to strike this [explastive] out.’ And I said, alright, let's do it. And I really appreciate him letting me stay out there and finish that. I really do believe that was my game. I'm happy I executed that.” Bibee caught Carlos Santana looking for the third strike to end the threat, the inning and his afternoon. Bibee threw seven innings where he allowed one run on four hits, striking out eight and walking one but That run came when Twins third baseman Jose Miranda clubbed his third home run of the season, a solo shot to the bleachers in left, in the top of the third to get Minnesota on the board and cut the Guardians lead in half, 2-1. Bibee worked around a two-base error on left fielder Estevan Florial, who dropped a fly ball off the bat of Willi Castro while running towards the foul line, in the fifth and a leadoff double in the seventh by Max Kepler.
Padd-locked – Twins starter Chris Paddack was equal to the task throwing eight innings where he only allowed the two runs on three hits. Following Gimenez’s home run, Paddack retired 24 of the remaining 25 batters he faced before giving way in the ninth. “He had everything working,” Vogt said. “So he was hitting the top rail. He was hitting bottom rail and working his off speed off of all those tunnels. So really a well pitched game by him. And fortunately we clipped him in the first.”
How sweep it is – The Guardians are 5-0 against the Twins this season. “I think they kind of stuck it to us last year and that's one thing that we weren't going to let happen again this year,” Brennan said. “We own this division and there's nothing like beating Minnesota, so we're going to keep that going.”
Kwan update – Steven Kwan continues to progress as he recovers from a hamstring strain suffered earlier this month that landed hm on the injured list. “Hopefully within the next seven to 10 days he potentially could start a rehab assignment,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “We're going to have to build up his running volume and game volume from there, but thankfully he's progressed pretty well, and I think he's still on track for that initial timeframe.”
Big hit – The Guardians were back in their ‘city connect’ uniforms Sunday, which are a hit among players, fans and Antonetti. “I just love the way all of the themes I think tie together the balance of the new brand identity with the history,” Antonetti said. “I think the uniforms do a great job of tying that all in together, and I think the overall look is awesome. So got a chance to get a sneak preview of them over the winter when they were still under lock and key. Yeah, couldn't take a picture of them and yeah, had to sign the NDA. But it's been also fun to see the reaction. I think universally, whether it's been from our players, our staff, fans, everyone seems to really like them.”
Hot ticket – Sunday’s crowd of 25,136 brought the three-day weekend total to 90,802, including a sellout Saturday night.
Up next – The New York Mets come to town for a three-game series starting Monday at 6:10 p.m. RHP Ben Lively (2-2, 3.06) vs. RHP Tylor Megill (0-1, 2.25)
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