CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians took Game 1 of a day-night double header with the Minnesota Twins 5-1 on Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Shane Bieber looked as good as ever. The right-hander was dominant through eight innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out six batters.
“It's really a lot of fun to be a part of when you come to come to the stadium and there's a specific aura that everyone expects to go out there and to do their job and win,” Bieber said.
Bieber’s only blemish was a solo home run to Matt Wallner in the 8th inning, Wallner’s first-career hit. He tossed a tidy 93 pitches logging a 5-pitch inning, a 6-pitch inning and an 8-pitch inning mixing in all of his pitches but having particular success with is curveball on Saturday.
“I think my usage is down a little bit, but the response and the feedback that I'm that I'm getting and that Hedgie (Austin Hedges) is telling me and the batter is telling is kind of right where I want it to be,” Bieber said. “ My other pitches are playing up and I'm going to I'm going to use those a little bit and then go to the curveball when I need to.”
Cleveland outhit Minnesota 14-4, led by Amed Rosario who was 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, tying him for tops in the American League with his fourth 4-hit game of the season. Jose Ramirez also belted his 28th home run of the season on a 3-0 pitch to get the scoring started in the 1st inning.
“It seems like things are a little bit more on their control. Like I'm trying to take every at-bat as they come, and not trying to do too much and just having fun,” Rosario said. “I just keep it simple, try to put the bat on the ball and take it one AB at a time.”
Cleveland had a base hit in all eight innings. Owen Miller extended his hit streak to 9 games with a two-run single in the 4th inning to give the Guardians a 4-0 lead. Miller has refined his swing in recent weeks to break out of recent funk, adjusting his mechanics and focusing on using his hands. Miller also had a big pinch-hit on Friday night.
Andres Gimenez, Oscar Gonzalez and Steven Kwan each had two hits.
“It’s fun to play this way. I feel the group plays like a happy baseball.” Rosario said. They're always happy and energetic, so it's really fun to play these types of games when a group has this type of energy.”
Saturday afternoons win put the Twins six games back in the loss column as the Guardians go for the double-header sweep of Minnesota at 7:10.
“I think we're responding to a challenge and some adversity.
And so, I think we're all seeing what we want to see and kind of rising to the challenge,” Bieber said. “Taking advantage of opportunities has been big all season, but especially down the stretch it's magnified.”