CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It’s not even June and this season has already been full of Maalox moments.
Friday night went the Guardians way thanks to Amed Rosario’s three-run fifth inning double, a quality effort from Shane Bieber and tightrope work by the bullpen in a 4-3 win over the St Louis Cardinals at Progressive Field.
Here are our Final 9 from the 22nd win of the season.
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1. More outbursts like the fifth inning, please. After scoring six runs in their previous four games combined, the Guardians erupted for all four runs in the fifth inning, which happened to be just enough to hold off the Cardinals. It was the fifth time they had an outburst of four or more runs in an inning this season.
2. Although Bieber ran out of gas with two outs in the seventh, it was another quality effort from their former Cy Young winner. Bieber limited St. Louis to two runs on five hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts. It was his ninth ‘quality start’ of the season and he threw 108 pitches. “I think we ended on a little bit of a frustrating note, just kind of giving up those two runs in the ways that we did,” Bieber said. “I felt like I could have been better, created more swing and misses, and maybe was a little bit out of character there in the sixth and seventh, especially walking those guys there. But the bullpen picked me up big time and it was a much needed and deserved W.”
3. Shortstop Amed Rosario delivered a bases-clearing three run double off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore to left field after left fielder Steven Kwan drove home the first run of the night with a single. “It didn't look like a bad pitch, a breaking ball down then he stayed on it,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “That was we'll take it. I mean we haven't bunched runs together like that, so that was welcome.” Rosario is hitting .349 with 12 RBI with runners in scoring position this season.
4. Guardians catcher Mike Zunino had himself a night. Zuninio collected a pair of hits that included an infield single in the third and a bloop to right in the fifth. He also threw out Cardinals center fielder Lars Nootbaar attempting to steal in the third inning.
5. Nootbaar was impossible to keep off the bases Friday night. He reached four out of five trips for the Cardinals, including a walk, two singles and then a double off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth to provide the final score.
6. The Guards bullpen continues to persevere. Although Trevor Stephan wasn’t his sharpest walking a pair and allowing a hit in 2/3 of an inning of work, Enyel DeLos Santos recorded two quick outs and Clase still nailed down his Major League leading 17th save of the season with a pair of strikeouts.
7. The 23rd one-run game of this season is in the books. With Friday night’s win, the Guardians improved to 10-13 in those games. “When we come out on the positive end of it, it obviously builds character in a positive way. And when we don't, you try and twist it in your favor and be better for it,” Bieber said. “So I think we did that a lot last year. We're continuing that trend this year. And like I said, we'll mix in some routes here and there, but ultimately the goal is to play playoff baseball to go deep to win the last game of the season. So when you do that against great teams, great lineups, you expect close games. So to be good in those is important.”
8. The Guards hit their magic number – four – to improve to 14-5 this season when scoring at least four times in a game.
9. Cleveland loves their fireworks and dollar dogs. The Guardians drew their largest crowd since opening day with 31,303 tickets sold Friday night and it was their largest non-opening day crowd for a game played in April or May since May 17, 2013 against Seattle.