CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians got a power surge from an unlikely source Saturday evening.
Steven Kwan hit his first home run of the season off Twins reliever Jorge Alcala in the bottom of the seventh to give the Guardians a 4-3 victory over Minnesota at Progressive Field.
Here’s our Final 9 from a much-needed win for Cleveland.
1. Kwan’s homer could be the shot in the arm – or at least wakeup call the Guardians offense needs. “If I can hit a home run every time, I would definitely love to,” Kwan said. “I think that's our kind of brand of baseball, just kind of pushing ‘em through. I think we had some good opportunities. I think obviously with My at-bat [in the fourth inning] I could have broken it open [with the] bases loaded, but I just didn't get done. So the home runs are nice, but I think our brand of baseball's still doing well.” Manager Terry Francona isn’t ready to proclaim the slump has been busted. “I think with hitters, you always hope that one swing will get somebody real hot,” Francona said. “Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't. Some guys work into it, which everybody…that's why when the weather warms up and guys start to feel good, they hold it longer just because when it's cold, it's hard to go from that at-bat to at-bat. Once the weather gets warm, guys start carrying them over. Not just that at-bat to at-bat, but day to day.”
2. Four is the Guards magic number. They are 11-2 when scoring four or more runs in games this season following Saturday night’s win as opposed to being 4-16 in games they score three or fewer runs. The Guardians also improved to 8-9 in games decided by one run this season.
3. Guardians starter Logan Allen was solid for the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. “I would say I wasn't quite as sharp as I have been the last couple outings, not as much swing and miss,” Allen said. “I had to grind out a few more innings a little bit more, but just had to throw everything a little bit, move the fast ball around pretty well. Had to change up working. They hit a few good pitches, but we battled through.” In all, Allen allowed two earned runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of work.
4. The bottom of the fourth that saw Cleveland send nine to the plate and score three times was quite eventful. The Guards got on the board thanks to an infield single to third by Josh Naylor to score Amed Rosario. Jose Ramirez moved to third on an error. Josh Bell singled to score Ramirez for a 2-0 lead and Myles Straw walked with the bases loaded. “[Sonny Gray] spins it so well and I wouldn't say we knocked his socks off, but I mean we put some balls in play, we ran the bases,” Francona said.
5. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was also ejected in the bottom of the fourth for arguing that Ramirez ran out of the basepath on his way to third and should not have been safe. “He just said he didn’t have him going out of the baseline,” Baldelli said. “There’s not much else to it, and I guess if that’s his opinion, that’s all he has to say in that instance and there’s not a lot more to talk about. I’ve been able to look at it. I just knew it was a big moment in the game more than anything else. We didn’t have the smoothest of innings going and it’s a tight ball game and I felt like that was going to be a pretty meaningful play. It’s probably not a play I’m going to get overturned. I don’t know if it’s worth getting thrown out of the game if there’s not much I can affect. I’ve looked at it again. It’s a judgment call by the umpire and I think I’ve seen that play get called both ways in my life and I wanted it to go one way for our team today and we didn’t get that call.”
6. Stop us if you’ve heard this before. Max Kepler homered in Cleveland. A two-run shot in the sixth to right center off of Allen pulled the Twins within 3-2 of the Guardians. “I made a really bad pitch to Kepler,” Allen said. “That'll happen. The hit before that was with two strikes. Guy put a good swing on it. I think you're just facing guys a third time through the lineup. They're able to make those adjustments a little bit quicker and I think that's going to be good for me to know going forward, how to game plan that third time through so we can clean up those innings.” It was Kepler’s 16th homer in this ballpark and 21st in 49 career games against Cleveland in his career. It also marked 18 straight games the Twins have hit one out of the park.
7. Guardians reliever Trevor Stephan gave up a solo home run to Twins shortstop Carlos Correa to left that tied the game at 3 in the top of the seventh. Moments earlier Byron Buxton hit a foul ball off the beer sign hanging on the side of the left field bridge.
8. There were three pitch clock violations – two called on Twins starter Sonny Gray in the bottom of that fourth and a third on Guardians reliever Trevor Stephan in the top of the eighth - Saturday. “I just felt like it was fast tonight,” Stephan said of the clock. “There was multiple times I think they were starting it, whether I got the ball back or not.” Stephan was asked about the two violations on Gray. “I can't really speak for him, but it felt like it did. It was creeping up on him and I just think whoever was starting the clock today was probably aggressive with it more than they have in the past or whatever.”
9. Sunday’s series finale with Cal Quantril on the hill is a big one for the Guardians who can end a five consecutive series losing streak with a win. It is a 1:40 first pitch.
