CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – David Fry went from goat to hero Saturday afternoon.
Fry, who normally catches, committed a first inning error that allowed the Brewers to take an early lead but redeemed himself with an RBI single in the sixth to help Tanner Bibee win his fourth game of the season in the Guardians 3-2 victory over Milwaukee.
“They say the ball's always going to find you,” Fry said.
“You try to just move on and put it behind you, but yeah, you definitely think about it, kind of making up for it, so it was nice to get that hit.”
Here’s our Final 9 from a sunny Saturday afternoon that saw 32,349 come to the ballpark to watch Cleveland win for the fifth time in six games to notch their 20th come from behind win of the season.
listen to 92.3 the fan
1. Frye was given a chance to start in right field so Will Brennan could get another day to rest his left shoulder. He blew a catch in the top of the first off the bat of Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez allowing left fielder Christian Yelich, who had an infield single to lead off the game, to score for a 1-0 Brewers lead and Tellez to get to second. Fry redeemed himself in the bottom of the sixth by delivering the go-ahead RBI single to left field, scoring Jose Ramirez, who singled, for a 3-2 lead.
2. Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez delivered an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single to left to make it a 4-2 game.
3. Josh Naylor came through again with an RBI single that tied the game at 2 before Fry’s hit. Naylor has hit in 18 of his last 22 games. Since May 30 Naylor is hitting .400 with two home runs and 24 RBI.
4. Ramirez collected two more hits and scored a run Saturday. He has now hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games thanks to his 21st multi-hit game of the season and 336th of his career.
5. The first five recorded outs Saturday afternoon were strikeouts by Bibee. He struck out the final two hitters he faced after walking the two previous Brewers in the sixth before calling it a day. “It’s definitely nice because if I don't finish that sixth, I’m probably pretty upset,” Bibee said. “But it’s pretty important. I talk with you guys all the time about getting to six. That’s the goal, at least every single time and getting to six, especially after a couple bad, mediocre starts I think it was definitely good.” Bibee allowed one earned run on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts. “I thought he really clutched up,” Francona said. “I mean obviously he pitched well but late in the game he’s up over a hundred and he probably hasn’t done that very much in his career. And those were probably his best fastballs of the day, so that tells you he’s out there competing, which we already knew, but it’s still a good sign [because if] something happens there we might be in a little trouble.”
6. Emmanuel Clase secured his 23rd save of the season. Eli Morgan and Trevor Stephan both threw a scoreless inning of relief. “Eli’s been looking to me like Eli, which is really good when he’s throwing his fast ball with real good finish that sets everything else up and it looks like he feels good about that right now,” Francona said. “And Trevor with, again, if we can get these guys the proper amount of rest, they’re going to be okay.”
7. Milwaukee added a second run in the top of the third inning off an RBI single to right field by William Contreras to score Christian Yelich, who walked for a 2-0 advantage. It would be the last time the Brewers crossed home plate.
8. The Guardians loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth after Steven Kwan led off with a single and stole second before Amed Rosario and Ramirez walked. Kwan scored after Josh Naylor hit into a 6-3 double play to cut the Brewers lead in half, 2-1. Josh Bell walked, Gimenez was hit by a pitch to reload the bases but Fry struck out to end the inning.
9. Francona won a challenge in the top of the fifth when Brewers second baseman Luis Arias, who led off with a single, was originally called safe after Bibee’s pickoff attempt but replay showed Josh Naylor applied the tag to Urias’ right shoulder before his hand got back to the bag causing the original call to be overturned.