CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Guardians starters Triston McKenzie and Shane Bieber are inching closer to a return to the majors with 25 games left in the regular season.
McKenzie is recovering from a strained ulnar collateral ligament that often requires Tommy John surgery. He’s given up five earned runs with 15 strikeouts in only 10 innings pitched for Cleveland this season. McKenzie threw a 45-pitch up-down bullpen session Monday.
“The hope is that he can maybe Friday go to Lake County and face some hitters,” manager Terry Francona said. “I think Bieber is Thursday over in the same place.”
Bieber was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list on July 24th with right elbow inflammation. He’s made 19 starts in 2023 and owns a 5-6 record with a 3.77 ERA.
“They’ve attacked what they’ve been asked to do which is the way you want it,” Francona said. “The hope is that there aren’t any hiccups, they get through facing hitters, and we would send them out to pitch in a minor league rehab game. That would be next so hopefully they stay on course and we get them back and see them pitch for us.”
There’s optimism from the team that McKenzie and Bieber will pitch for Cleveland before the regular season comes to an end on October 1st.
“I think we were getting them out to about 85 pitches before they would pitch for us,” Francona said. “That’s probably sometime around the 20th, so we could get a few starts from them.”
Giolito’s debut – During McKenzie and Bieber’s absence, the Guardians have had to rely on other arms to start ballgames. One of those arms gets his first start Monday as a member of the Cleveland Guardians.
Right-hander Lucas Giolito was claimed off waivers from Los Angeles at the end of August along with relievers Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore. Giolito was activated by Cleveland on Saturday ahead of his start against the Twins.
“You’re looking at a veteran guy that’s been pitching for a while,” Francona said. “Hopefully as he gets his feet wet here, he pitches great. That would be good, but I don’t know if we can add stuff before he’s even pitched.”
Giolito has a 7-11 record this season with a 4.45 ERA and pitched for the White Sox and Angels before landing with the Guardians. He’s spent the majority of his eight-year career in Chicago and made the All-Star Game in 2019.
With experience pitching in the AL Central, Giolito has made 23 appearances against the Minnesota Twins in his career. He’s only given up two earned runs to the Twins in three starts against them this season.
“I faced the Twins a bunch of times too,” Giolito said. “It’s interesting to be back in the central and we’re a few games out, so yeah a big series coming up.”
Bring on Minnesota – Terry Francona also commented on the series ahead against the Minnesota Twins.
“I think some series are way more fun to play, and this certainly should be one of them,” Francona said. “We need to win, that’s pretty obvious.”
Cleveland sits five games behind Minnesota in the AL Central. This is the final series that the two clubs will play against one another this season.
The Guardians lead the season series 6-4. Since the start of 2022, Cleveland has won nine of 13 matchups against Minnesota at Progressive Field.
Roster move – Catcher Eric Haase accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus on Monday.
The Guardians claimed Haase off waivers from Detroit on August 21st. Cleveland designated him for assignment on August 31st and demoted him on Sunday.
Haase played three games for Cleveland. In 10 plate appearances, he had two hits, a walk, and struck out three times.
Cleveland currently has Bo Naylor and Cam Gallagher as their rostered catchers. Utility player David Fry can play the position for the team as well.