News and Notes for Tuesday, September 17th, 2024
What a night in Cleveland!
Kyle Manzardo hit a go-ahead two-run home run against a top five reliever in MLB this season and Emmanuel Clase cut through the heart of the Twins’ order like a hot knife through butter as the Guardians beat the Twins 4-3 last night, to go to 8-2 against Minnesota this season, reduce their magic number to 7 for the central division, 7 for the #2 seed and 2 for securing a playoff berth.
Matthew Boyd ran into trouble in the third due to a tight strike zone and some hits falling, getting replaced by Pedro Avila with the Guardians down 3-0. The Guardians’ bullpen then refused to give up a run in the remaining seven and third innings. Heroes included the aforementioned Avila, Erik Sabrowski striking out three, Eli Morgan playing the role of fireman, Andrew Walters with a clean eighth and finally Clase’s usual ninth inning dominance.
Punctuating the win with a strikeout!
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) September 17, 2024
Emmanuel Clase ties Jose Mesa for the most single-season saves in @CleGuardians franchise history by closing out a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Twins.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/TTsPXZDqZh
Prior to Manzardo’s heroics, Andres Gimenez had an RBI single in the fifth, Angel Martinez had an RBI single in the seventh, but then Griffin Jax struck out Daniel Schneemann (batting for Brayan Rocchio in an odd decision to prioritize potential hard-hitting ability over contact ability and defense, given Schnee’s chase and whiff rates) and Andres Gimenez, both on three pitches, and got Jose Ramirez to groundout on a first pitch changeup outside (a familiar attack plan).
But, then, finally, Josh Naylor put up a great at-bat to open the eighth against Jax, hitting a double. Lane Thomas struck out as he will against most right-handed relievers, leading to Kyle Manzardo getting his opportunity to shine. And shine he did:
Lol, okay. Yeah, dude.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/p82td544ye
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 17, 2024
108 mph off the bat, 407 feet, on a 97 mph fastball in the upper inside corner of the strike zone. And from a hitter with only 40-grade power according to FanGraphs’ Eric Longehagen.
Everytime I see a Guardians highlight it’s like “the starting pitcher didn’t make it out of the third inning and the offense went 3/100 with runners in scoring position as the Guardians defeat the Twins 4-3 in the series opener”
— Luke (@GuardsFanLuke) September 17, 2024
Manzardo delivers the KO. Goodnight Minnesota #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/ysyJ9M5DNf
— Pat Cahill (@pat_khill8) September 17, 2024
— Baseball Images that Precede Unfortunate Events (@UnfortunateMLB) September 17, 2024
Stephen Vogt was emotional after the game and it was beautiful:
"He was ready for that fastball, and boy, he did not miss it."@CleGuardians manager Stephen Vogt was impressed by the way Kyle Manzardo has handled his role as a designated hitter, especially after his go-ahead two-run home run in a 4-3 win over Minnesota.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/HkIGS6pPQZ
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) September 17, 2024
Zack Meisel had a great article afterwards, also looking ahead at a potential playoff run.
Personally, I love the Manzardo story. He’s such a quiet, unassuming kid. Being asked to just DH is so hard for a young hitter but he continues to put up professional at-bats and hit the ball hard. Looking forward to seeing him in the middle of the Cleveland order for years to come.
AROUND MLB:
The Tigers beat the Royals
The Padres beat the Astros.
