CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians are starting to thaw out.
Shane Bieber tossed seven scoreless innings and Josh Bell finished a triple shy of the cycle to lead the Guardians to a 5-0 win over the Astros at Progressive Field.
Here’s or Final 9 from the homestand finale that saw Cleveland improve to 31-34 on the season.
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Here’s or Final 9 from the homestand finale that saw Cleveland improve to 31-34 on the season.
1. Bieber was sensational once again as he matched his season-high with nine strikeouts to win his fifth game of the season. “That was really nice,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “They’re such an aggressive, first pitch swinging team and he has that cutter that he can use where he can make it bigger into the slider. He commanded his fastball up in the zone by design. I thought he pitched really, really well.” Bieber set the tone early by keeping the Astros off the board with a quick seven pitch 1-2-3 first inning. Houston had scored three runs in the opening inning in each of the first two games of the series. Bieber surrendered his first hit of the afternoon with two outs in the top of the fourth on a single by Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker and he allowed just two more hits the rest of the afternoon. “To be able to establish strike one with multiple pitches kind of, we noticed put them on their heels a little bit more so than they’re used to today,” Bieber said.
2. Bell had himself an afternoon going 3-4 at the plate. Bell singled to lead off the second before he slugged a solo shot to right center lead off the bottom of the fourth inning to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead. Bell’s fifth home run of the season traveled 426 feet into the wind. “Today felt really good,” Bell said. “Last couple of days was watching a ton of video and trying to do a deep dive on what's going on right now because the ball’s flying in the cage and batting practice has been great. I been driving the ball to all fields, but hasn’t really been showing up in the game, so found some things, worked on some things today. It was awesome to see the results there.” He doubled to lead off the bottom of the sixth and scored on Tyler Freeman’s RBI double to left that gave the Guardians a 5-0 advantage. “Today was obviously really good,” Francona said. “He whacked that ball to right center for the home run. He turned on the ball for the double. He is one of the best teammates you're ever going to see, so it’s fun to watch how people, our guys react to him when he does have success.”
3. Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez got the Guardians on the board in the bottom of the second with his fourth home run of the season – a two-run shot into the wind to right center.
4. Freeman replaced Gimenez at second base in the top of the sixth for precautionary reasons after Gimenez experienced left leg tightness, so something to watch as the Guards hit the road. I think, [he’s] okay, I mean in the grand scheme of things, okay,” Francona said. “We got tomorrow off. Obviously he’s going to have to show up Tuesday and be raring to go, but I don't think it would be much more than that if it is.” Freeman went 2-2 at the plate.
5. Josh Naylor extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-out single to left in the bottom of the third inning. Naylor was thrown out by Astros catcher Cesar Salazar trying to steal second to end the inning.
6. Guardians catcher Cam Gallager threw out Astros left fielder Corey Julks in the top of the fourth trying to steal second. Gallager was helped by second baseman Andres Gimenez, who had his foot in front of the bag preventing Julks, who beat the throw down, from getting his hand on the bag before the tag. “Cam called a phenomenal game as he usually does,” Bieber said.
7. Trevor Stephan and Emmanuel Clase finished the Astros off in the eighth and ninth innings for the Guardians.
8. Gabriel Arias, who filled in for Jose Ramirez at third base, had a tough afternoon for the Guards. In the top of the fourth Arias was charged with a throwing error after his throw went wide left of Naylor at first base. In the bottom of that inning, he was picked off by Astros starter Brandon Bielak, who suffered his third loss of the season after allowing five runs on nine hits with two walks and four strikeouts, after walking. Arias was charged with a second throwing error in the top of the seventh.
9. The Guardians, who secured their sixth shutout of the season, won their fourth series in their last five with Sunday’s win and improved to 10-6 over that stretch. On the homestand Cleveland collected at least 10 hits in every game and it appears the organization’s patience with the offense is paying off. “I hope so. I think that’s the reason you’re patient because if you’re not, that doesn't really help, but it’s still fluid,” Francona said. “I mean, I always feel that way too, right? When you think you got to figured out, you probably don’t. So just play today’s game. Tomorrow, we’ll watch the basketball game [NBA Finals] and then we'll see what we can do on Tuesday.” The six consecutive games with 10-plus hits marks the first time they’ve done that since April 20-May 4, 2018. The Guardians finished with 65 hits and 38 runs scored on the homestand. “I think the offense is gaining momentum. I think they're gaining confidence,” Bieber said. “I think we’re gaining confidence in all facets. So it would be a great time for starters and the bullpen to take that next step and it seems like that's what we've started to do over the last couple series.”