CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Tuesday ended up being a cold walk in the park.
Nolan Jones walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give the Guardians a 1-0 win over the White Sox in the 2025 home opener at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from the Guardians home opener.
Walk this way – Jones raised his arms in the air after taking a 3-2 pitch from former Guardians pitcher and current White Sox reliever Mike Clevinger low and away. “It was a lot of fun, man,” Jones said. “My job is to put the ball in play so I got a good pitch and see what happens. And the first pitch I took a big swing at, I felt like my eyes lit up a little bit and had to kind of step out and calm myself down a little bit. Slow down. But I mean, I think the goal stayed the same, obviously. I just got to find a way to get that run from third home.” With no outs and the bases loaded, Jones nearly won it with a rip down the right field line that went foul on a 3-2 pitch. “I felt like I was really geared up for a fastball,” Jones said. “I felt like I put a good swing on the 3-1, thought I had a chance.” With no one out and the bases loaded thanks to a Carlos Santana leadoff single followed by walks to Kyle Manzardo and Jhonkensy Noel, Chicago went with five infielders, three on the right side, at the edge of the grass with Nolan at the plate. “I mean, what a cool moment for him, right,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Grew up here, gets traded away, gets traded back, and on opening day the home opener, he has a chance to walk it off and misses a grand slam by about 10, 15 feet. And I was just like, oh, that would've been such a cool moment. And I was just smiling right at him and it's like you can't control where you hit the ball. You can't control where it goes. And so I just wanted him to relax and you have to laugh at the game. Sometimes you have to smile because it's real easy to say, oh man, and then you lose your focus on the next pitch.”
Lively outing – Starter Ben Lively threw five scoreless innings where he allowed two hits, walked three and struck out four. “The grip was a little tough in the beginning,” Lively said. “But once I started getting warmed up and good and sweaty and it was normal and it felt pretty good except for the cold hit my neck, but not bad.” Lively escaped trouble in the fourth when Luis Robert Jr. and Nick Maton led off with back-to-back singles, but he got Andrew Vaughn to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. “That's a tough day to pitch,” Vogt said. “Their guy, [Shane] Smith and Ben were both phenomenal. Saw a little bit with Ben’s command. He wasn't himself today, but he was able to power through and get us five innings and probably use more pitches than he is used to through five innings on a game like that. But he did his job. Just excellent, excellent. Again, we love Ben. We love what he means for us, and he was outstanding today.”
Thomas sidelined – Outfielder Lane Thomas departed in the bottom of the fifth after being hit in the hand by a pitch from White Sox starter Shane Smith. The Guardians said Thomas suffered a right wrist contusion and X-rays were negative. “Good news there,” Vogt said. “So he's day to day, he's going to be pretty sore for a while. It got him good on the wrist, so we'll see how he feels [Wednesday] coming in.”
New diggs – Tuesday as the first opportunity for the Guardians to get a look at their brand-new clubhouse. “I mean they nailed it and then some, they thought of everything,” Vogt said. “Our players are going to have everything they need to recover to prepare. We want to come to the field even more so than we already do. And our new home is just beautiful in the ballpark. The way that our organization just cares for the fans, cares for our players to create a great environment to watch baseball and to play baseball. They just knocked it out of the park.” The players certainly were excited about and appreciated the upgrades. “It is truly beautiful in there,” outfielder Steven Kwan said. “I think obviously the year is really long. I think the more you want to be at the field and you don't feel like it's a chore to be at the field. I think it's really important. So I think guys get there. They feel rejuvenated, they feel excited to be at the field. Hopefully we can keep that excitement going as long as possible, but it makes it easy when you're in there.” The new space includes a private player lounge, new training spaces, batting cages as well as therapy pools and rooms. “It's incredible,” outfielder Lane Thomas said. “I think they did a great job just laying out, making it easier on us to get to the cage and on the field. It's been incredible.”
Pregame ceremonies – Ohio State defensive end and national champion Jack Sawyer threw out the first pitch. The Guardians held a moment of silence to honor the passing of owner Larry Dolan and former Indians All-Star Rocky Colavito. The world renown Cleveland Orchestra handled national anthem duties.
