News and Notes: Confident Offense Leads to Series Win

News and Notes for Thursday, April 4th, 2024

(Editor's Note: Today we welcome Nicole to our staff of writers. Nicole will handle some news and notes, minor-league recaps and analysis pieces for us. She's a great Guardians fan and talented writer whom you can also get to know on the Disgusting Baseball Podcast. Welcome, Nicole!)

From the first pitch of the game Cleveland Guardians offense dominated Seattle pitcher George Kirby.

Steven Kwan led off the game with a first pitch ground ball single to left field. Giménez was hit by pitch, continuing his reign as team leader in this unfortunate stat. José Ramírez followed Kwan and Giménez with an RBI double, Josh Naylor delivered an RBI on a ground out, and Will Brennan singled to second base, allowing Ramírez to score. That was just the first inning.

Cleveland batters continued to dominate offensively, putting up 2 runs in the 2nd and 3 runs in the 4th. Kwan, Giménez, Ramírez, and Brennan all recorded multiple hits with Florial and Rocchio contributing a hit each. Both Kwan and Ramírez battled with Kirby accounting for 8 pitches each in their 2nd inning plate appearances, something that appears to be becoming a trend for this club as a whole. Notably Andrés Giménez capitalized on Kwan’s long at bat to hit an RBI double on the first pitch he saw. The team finished the night with 11 hits and 1 walk against Seattle pitching.

While neither of the Naylor brothers earned a hit, they both experienced some baseball oddities. Josh Naylor recorded 3 RBIs thanks to multiple sac hits and aggressive base running from his teammates. Bo Naylor found himself on first base after striking out due to a wild pitch from Kirby not once, but twice.

Logan Allen had a strong outing, giving up 4 hits and 3 walks, with no earned runs and 6 total strikeouts. Thanks to some quick innings, Allen was able to pitch into the 7th inning, going 6.2 innings with 93 pitches earning himself the post-game belt. Nick Sandlin, Cade Smith, and Tim Herrin held the shutout for Cleveland, securing the series win with one of the more assuring appearances from bullpen pitchers so far.

This club has continued to impress out of the Spring Training gate. Each passing game has highlighted another player locking in and getting more comfortable offensively. Will Brennan has been smashing the ball, having recorded 8 hard-hit balls so far this season. For the Guardians, this is second only to Andrés Giménez who has 10 hard-hit balls. Andrés is currently sporting a 1.015 OPS with no signs of him slowing down. Kwan has shown a more aggressive approach in the batter's box allowing him to capitalize on setting the game momentum with early count hits, even if they are bunts. Josh and José continue to be power threats, leading to Josh being intentionally walked already this season. With the bats heating up for Tyler Freeman and Bo Naylor, this line up has potential to consistently do damage top to bottom. There are some weaknesses in the 7-8-9 spots, but Brayan Rocchio hitting 9th in the lineup has been inspiring confidence that I am not used to having this early in the year.

Hopefully this team can continue to string together runs while hitting for power and keep the momentum rolling. If the first two series are and indicator for the rest of the season, we are about to have a lot of fun watching this team play.

Final Score: CLE 8 - SEA 0

Cleveland Guardians Record: 5-2

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Cleveland Guardians News:

Xzavion Curry made a rehab start with the Columbus Clippers.

Xan Barksdale on Twitter offered some good insight into the value of Austin Hedges:

Around the League:

Aaron Judge recorded his first home run on the season.

Texas Rangers righty Nathan Eovaldi threw 7 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brewer Jackson Chourio and Diamondback Blaze Alexander record their first major league home run.