CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – If only the Guardians could hit.
Peyton Battenfield deserved a better fate Friday night after taking a perfect game into the sixth inning but the Minnesota Twins kept Cleveland’s offense dormant to win the series opener 2-0 at Progressive Field.
Here’s our Final 9 from quite the pitcher’s duel:
1. Battenfield was sensational and deserved better than taking his third loss of the season to fall to 0-3 as a starter. Battenfield retired the first 17 Twins before surrendering a single to left center off the bat of Minnesota catcher Christian Vazquez. “I thought he was outstanding,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “You got the two-run homer. I mean, you look up in the seventh inning, the guy's given up two [runs] and that was late. Take it every time.
2. Twins right fielder Max Kepler followed the single by Vazquez by launching a 440-foot, two-run home run on a 3-2 pitch to the chairs in right field to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. “That's the deepest I've gone into a game this season and I thought I threw the ball really well,” Battenfield said. “Made really one mistake and I don't even want to necessarily say it was a mistake because my thought going into that pitch was just don't pull it. Just don't throw a slider in the zone with a three-two count, and the guy made a good swing on it. Didn't get the bite that I had been getting kind of the whole game with that pitch.” Kepler has hit 15 home runs in his career in Cleveland. “I feel like I've seen every one of them,” Francona said. “I think I have. He’s dangerous when you leave something over the plate. He’s very dangerous.” That’s all the Twins needed.
3. Credit Battenfield for coming back in the seventh and retiring the side for a sixth time. His final line: seven innings, two earned runs on two hits with seven strikeouts. “The [home run] didn’t take any steam out of me,” Battenfield said. “I wasn't thinking about it. I was just focused on the glove and driving the ball to the glove tonight. It’s hard. I mean obviously it’s in the back of your head, but I wasn't thinking about, oh, oh no. I just get back on the mound and drive the next pitch.”
4. Minnesota’s Bailey Ober had the Guardians lineup just as befuddled. “He's just got a lot of levers coming at you,” left fielder Steven Kwan, who went 0-3 with a walk, said. “Definitely got a lot of extension. His wingspan is longer than a lot of guys, so gives you less time to react to those pitches.” Cleveland’s hitters continue to struggle as they were shut out for a fourth time this season and held to less than three runs for the 20th time. The Guardians are 4-16 in those games this season. “If a pitcher has the ability to kind of spin it or change speeds in any count, it's giving us fits right now. We’re going to have to earn getting pitches to hit in the zone, because we’re trying to hit everything.”
5. Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor was the first player for either team to reach safely on a batted ball – a two-out double to left center in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jose Ramirez and Oscar Gonzalez collected the two other hits on the night for the Guards.
6. The game saw the side retired 11 times. The Guardians sat the Twins down in order six times and Minnesota pitchers returned the favor five times.
7. The Guardians desperation for offense showed in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Oscar Gonzalez chopped a ball off the plate and beat the throw at first. Jose Ramirez, who singled to lead off the inning, tried to score from second but was easily thrown out at the plate by first baseman Donovan Solano to end the inning.
8. A potential third Twins run was cut down in the eighth thanks to Ramirez snagging Jose Miranda’s bouncer and throwing home. Catcher Mike Zunino, who had allowed Solono to go first to third on a passed ball, threw back to Ramirez to tag him out.
9. It’s early May, but the loss, which was Cleveland’s 12th in 17 games, dropped the Guardians 4 ½ games behind the Twins in the AL Central standings and a season-low four games below .500.
