News and Notes: Test Passed, Guardians Get One from the Braves in Extras

News and Notes for Sunday, April 28th, 2024

Last night, we learned that the Guardians have what it takes to beat the best team in MLB as they won in Atlanta in 11 innings, 4-2. Last night, the Atlanta Braves learned:

(If you’re one of our readers not from Cleveland, please google “Tim Misney Cleveland” for context).

I hope last night’s game is seen as key point in the season not primarily because of the win over Atlanta but because of the excellent start Tanner Bibee gave his team against the best lineup in baseball. With his fastball and slider velocity up almost 1 mph in average for the year, Bibee rode both pitches at around a 40% rate, dropping in an occasional change and a once-in-a-blue-moon curveball to allow only two hits and no walks in seven scoreless innings against the Braves, striking out nine. Unfortunately, Bibee had to sit for around twenty minutes as the Guardians scored two in the top of the eighth and manager Stephen Vogt said after the game that his plan to bring Bibee back out for the bottom of the eighth was then scuttled.

No matter, time to turn to the Guardians’ excellent pen as Hunter Gaddis emerged. Unfortunately, the excellent season Gaddis is turning in took the wrong time for a hiccup as he gave up two runs to tie the game. Although he gave up a couple hard-hit balls, the primary offender was a bloop hit that surely should have been caught.

I’m not sure if Tyler Freeman or Will Brennan didn’t get a good break on this ball (my guess is Freeman from the clip), but my primary disagreement is with having both playing that far back in what I assume is a “no-doubles” defense against Jared Kelenic. Personally, I think one can assume the no-doubles possibility is always well-established when Kelenic is at the plate, and I’d be playing the outfielders further in. But, hindsight is 20-20 and the Guardians lost their hard-fought lead.

It was up to an offense that had been stymied by Charlie Morton to find a way to scratch some more runs out against the Braves bullpen. Some notes on Guardians’ hitters during the game: I’m a firm believer in Bo Naylor. He has a groove in his swing. Major league pitchers are basically challenging him to hit velocity in the zone and it was clear that was Morton and the Braves’ approach. I think Bo can respond and hit these pitches enough to move teams off this plan of attack, but it’s clearly what he has to prove right now. He did, however, get a shoutout from Bibee after the game for his work behind the dish:

Gabriel Arias got the start at shortstop in what felt to me like a potential sea-change moment for him to prove to Vogt that he deserves the lion’s share of those reps. Arias went 0 for 4, BUT he had two of the highest exit velocities in the game and one of them was on a lineout with an .830 xBA (the other was a groundout illustrating his launch angle issues). As we conclude the month of April, I, a Rocchio supporter, am ready to see Arias as the primary starter and Rocchio in the first guy off the bench role Arias has assumed so far. For me, Arias has done enough to show he deserves a longer look, even though I’m far from convinced he’s the long-term answer. Plus, there’s this:

The Guardians scored their runs in the eighth in a quintessential Guardians’ way, They scored a run on three hits with exit velocities of 31.1, 27.8 and 25.4 mph, all with xBA under .325. Because Elon Musk broke Twitter’s search feature, I cannot find a tweet that pointed out that no team has scored a run in such a way in the Statcast era, but it’s out there somewhere. And, Dan, just like that... Disgusting Baseball... is... BACK (shoutout StuGotz of the Dan LeBatard show). Jose Ramirez was at the center of the rally as his steal of second base enabled Steven Kwan to steal home producing the second run of the inning,

Unsung heroes of the rest of the game will remain the Guardians’ reliable bullpen arms. Emmanuel Clase dominated the Braves in the 9th. Scott Barlow performed a Houdini act in the 10th with the help of excellent defense, And, Nick Sandlin, who allowed a couple hard-hit balls, demonstrated some veteran poise in saving the game in the bottom of the 11th with the top of the Atlanta lineup at the plate.

The game was won in the top of the 11th, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, when the Braves intentionally walked Jose Ramirez to face Josh Naylor with two men now on base:

Josh Naylor lives for these moments:

So does Stephen Vogt:

The rubber match of the series happens this afternoon at 1:35PM EST.

In other news, Sam Hentges made his third rehab appearance on Friday and was up to 95 mph with his fastball so he should return to the ballclub soon. I’d assume (and hope) either Pedro Avila or Tyler Beede will make way for the lefty to rejoin the Guardians.

Friday night was yet another reminder of the value Austin Hedges provides as a framer, something he’s been doing all season:

In MLB draft prospect news, it was a BIG day for Georgia’s Charlie Condon who would certainly seem to be putting himself in a “can’t miss” category:

But don’t forget about sleeper Braden Montgomery:

Around MLB:

Between the White Sox and the Angels, the Twins offense has awakened from their early season sleep.

The Royals finally lost to the Tigers.

The White Sox won AGAIN and the Rays should feel bad.

Shohei Ohtani hits the ball so dang hard.

Maybe MLB broke out the juiced balls yesterday, because five teams scored in double-digits with three exceeding fifteen runs.