CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians looked a bit jet lagged Friday night after a long week on the road.
Jose Soriano threw six scoreless innings, Nolan Schanuel hit a solo homer and Mickey Moniak a three-run shot to power the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-0 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field.
Here’s our top news and notes from the homestand opener.
5 for Bibee – Bibee suffered his first loss of the season as he got knocked around for six runs on eight hits in five innings of work. The Angels ran Bibee’s pitch count up early forcing him to throw 44 pitches through two innings. “I think that 11-pitch at-bat to start the game really put a dent in his night,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “He made some big pitches when he needed to at times, but fastball commands a little off. Never really got a feel for his slider as the night went on a little bit fastball command, pulling his fastball just a little bit. And I think he was pulling his slider to the glove side. He landed a few arm side sliders, but just kind of an off night. And I really do think that was a great first at-bat by Schul [Nolan Schanuel], and I think that really kind of dictated the night.” Bibee, who struck out four and walked one, allowed a pair of home runs to Schanuel and Moniak in the third and fourth innings respectively on the first pitch of each at-bat. “Not having the slider where I wanted it to be, I think was extremely tough, especially for the righties and just made stupid pitches and stupid spots,” Bibee said.
Snapping 0-fers – The Naylor brothers snapped their 0-fer skids. First, catcher Bo Naylor snapped an 0-10 with a single to right in the fifth and Josh Naylor an 0-13 with a single to right in the sixth inning. “It's something always positive to look to,” Bo Naylor said. “You just got to continue to grind and make sure that you're taking care of the stuff that you can to work through those tough times.”
Kwan’s K-less streak – Steven Kwan extended his streak to 72 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout, the longest current streak in baseball as well as the longest for the franchise since Omar Vizquel went 76 plate appearances without striking out in 1996. Kwan reached base three times, including a pair of hits and a walk. “He means everything to us,” Vogt said. “He's our catalyst and what he's doing right now is pretty special and the guys behind him are doing a lot of special things as well. But you can't say enough about what qua he's doing. He's the consistency that he brings to our lineup.”
Tough move – The Guardians swapped right-handers in the bullpen Friday. The team designated Tyler Beede for assignment and called up Peter Strzelecki from AAA Columbus. “This one hits home, is former teammate of mine, somebody who I'm very close with and have a close relationship with,” Vogt said. “So very difficult conversation, not fun at all, and I don't ever want it to be.” Strzelecki pitched the ninth inning for Cleveland.
Quote of the day – “There's not a whole lot of trickery in baseball,” Voght said about squaring off with Angels manager Ron Washington this weekend. “You can do some moves that catch people by surprise maybe, but Wash is willing to do whatever he has to do to get a win just like we are. So it's going to be a lot of fun and I just love watching him go about his business.”
Up next – Game 2 of the series Saturday at 6:10 p.m. RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 2.30) vs. LHP Reid Detmers (3-2, 3.12).