CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Boasting one of the youngest teams in the game last season, the Cleveland Guardians surprised everyone and won the American League Central division for the 11th time.
The magic they captured throughout the 2022 season has yet to appear this year while the growing pains that were expected last year are now prevalent.
“Some of the things that maybe we thought we’d see last year we’re seeing this year,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said.
The Guardians are now 8-21 following Monday night’s 3-0 shutout win when scoring three or fewer runs in a game this season and 13-5 when they score four or more in a game.
Cleveland is 6-8 when they collect five or fewer hits in a game. They had four hits Monday night.
Last season the Guardians had 29 wins in their last at-bat, surpassing the 1995 Indians who had 27 such victories. They won 12 games when trailing after the seventh inning and went 28-17 in one-run games in 2022.
This year the Guardians have won seven games in their last at-bat and are 9-13 in one-run games to date, which is the most one-run games they've played through the first 47 games in a season since 1967.
Last year they were 6-8 in one-run contests through their first 47 games.
“There’s not a lot of wiggle room or not a lot of margin for error sometimes when you spread a game out, if you run into an out on the bases or something,” Francona said. “If we do it now, [it’s] pretty glaring and that’s just because we don’t have that margin for error. So hopefully we don’t do that. We have made some mistakes and it’s hard to play the game flawless. Just be nice if we could spread some games out where they don't get in the way.”
One thing Francona doesn’t see is his players being overly hesitant on the bases. If anything, sometimes they’re too aggressive forcing the issue in an effort to light a spark offensively.
“I don’t think I’ve seen guys hesitant,” Francona said. “I think I’ve seen maybe the other one where we’ve tried to maybe do a little too much and I certainly understand it.
“Shoot. I mean, yeah. And again, if somebody gets a little more aggressive and you’re [up] five, it's okay. When you're playing those one-run games [like] we do. Everything is more glaring.”
Resting Straw – Center fielder Myles Straw was given the night off Tuesday. It’s just the second night off for Straw so far this season.
Straw, who has started 45 games this season, continues to be as dependable as it gets in the field, and at the plate, he’s collected hits in 26 games and is hitting .271 with runners on.
“It's nice when [they] hit it and you're out. That's a nice feeling,” Francona said. “And just trying to balance the workload of guys and because it's been a lot the last four or five days, so hopefully we have a lead, we can put him in late, but [we] try to map it out where it helps a guy to have a day off. That's part of it.”
Stay on schedule – Shane Bieber likes to stick to his regular schedule of pitching every five days and the Guardians are also trying to protect their young arms.
The rotation later this week is being adjusted accordingly.
“It’s helped us though because we’re certainly trying to keep an eye on these younger guys,” Francona said. “Biebs likes to kind of stay on his day if he can. So Bieber will go Friday, Bibee will go Saturday. Anytime we can buy those kids days, it’s good because they’re so used to the minor leagues because they play those six-game series. Only one guy throws on five days during the week.”
Sticking with 5 – With Aaron Civale and Tristan McKenzie on track to return to the rotation soon and with the success of Bibee, Logan Allen, Hunter Gaddis and Peyton Battenfield filling in, could or would the Guardians consider a six-man rotation?
“I’d like to think we've kicked everything around because we probably have an obligation to, I don't know how that would work. I just don't think we’d be able [to]. I'm not saying once, but if you're talking about you're looking at a seven man bullpen and as you get into the summer with less days off, that would be hard.”
