News and Notes: Guardians Notch a Win to Be Proud Of

News and Notes for Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

The Guardians scored seven runs in the second inning of a sellout game for their Pride Night, and that was all she wrote as they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1.

Carlos Carrasco had an incredible throwback start, going six innings, giving up only four hits, no walks, and striking out seven. A home run to Vladimar Guerrero was the one blemish on an incredible performance to which Austin Hedges credited a plan to throw all of his pitches to every batter and Cookie remaining loose and engaged on the mound, physically. Carrasco warmed up to a Lady Gaga song and said after walking a bunch of guys his last time out and hitting a batter, he decided to try not to do that this time:

I love him.

Anyway, back to that second inning... it featured 70 pitches, five walks, a fly ball that landed in no man’s land between two outfielders, an error on an Orelvis Martinez character for Toronto who really doesn’t look like he should be playing second base, and the rarest of occurrences - an Austin Hedges two-RBI single.

Hedges isn’t a hitter, but, man, can he catch, call a game and fix a pitcher. He also sweated through three jerseys in the scorcher of a night.

The Guardians have yet to solve the Blue Jays’ bullpen, weirdly enough, as it’s the worst in baseball, but no one is complaining. Pedro Avila went two strong innings before running out of gas in the ninth, at which point Sam Hentges entered and made quick work of the Blue Jays. Avila seems like a great guy:

Brayan Rocchio made two excellent plays in the field:

I really hope Rocchio finds that pulled fly-ball ability he had in Akron because that glove is so special. Meanwhile, Angel Martinez now joins Daniel Schneemann as a player with shortstop experience, but you should expect Rocchio to be a steady defensive replacement in Schnee-Angel starts.

Around MLB:

The Royals lost to the Rangers.

The Tigers beat the White Sox.

The Twins lost to the Athletics, as their closer, Jhoan Duran, gave up two runs in the 8th on a homer by Shea Langeliers.