Cleveland Rainouts are back to 500

8 hits for our rookie outfielders last night

Oscar Gonzalez so promising and he can actually be athletic enough to play outfield!

Granted he should have slid last night when he scored the winning run but that sprint shows you just how well he moves for such a big guy. That guy can move!!

Crossing fingers - we have an athletic big guy who can hit for average and power. Hope it stays that way.

Ramírez scoffs at 9% win chance, sparks Cleveland rally
June 10th, 2022








CLEVELAND -- The one thing this Guardians team has learned so far this season is that they can never be counted out of any game. And José Ramírez made sure that trend continued on Friday night.

According to Baseball Savant, the Guardians entered the bottom of the ninth with just a 9% chance of walking away victorious. But Ramírez sparked a comeback with a leadoff homer before Luke Maile became the hero, knocking in the game-winning run on a walk-off sacrifice fly to hand the Guardians a 3-2 win over the A’s at Progressive Field.

“He’s not bad, is he?” Guardians manager Terry Francona joked when asked about Ramírez. “He’s dangerous every time he gets up there.”

Ramírez’s efforts created an outcome that the team has gotten used to over the last few months. Their 96 runs scored in the seventh inning or later ranked the fourth most in the Majors (behind the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox) at the time Friday’s game finished.

Let’s break down the three moments in the ninth inning that allowed them to secure their ninth win of their last 11 contests:

1. Josey being Josey

It’s the bottom of the ninth with a two-run deficit and there’s no one the Guardians would rather have at the plate to start the inning than Ramírez. And not only did he spark a rally, he was able to give the team a feeling of a fresh start, having just a one-run deficit after one swing of the bat and no outs on the scoreboard. He rounded the bases for the 16th time this season, as he watched his home run total match his strikeout total (both 16) on the season. The last hitter in the Majors to have more home runs than strikeouts in a season? Barry Bonds, who had 45 homers and 41 strikeouts in 2004.

“Definitely the best hitter by far I've ever watched or played with,” Guardians infielder Owen Miller said. “It's just cool to see how he is at the plate and how calm he is and how confident. The swings that he puts on balls are unbelievable.”


There aren’t many words left to describe what Ramírez is able to do at the plate. There’s a reason he’s outpacing everyone in the Majors with 56 RBIs -- the second most RBIs by a Cleveland hitter through his first 54 games of a season, trailing only Manny Ramirez (68 RBIs in 1999).

“I'm really happy he's on our team,” Maile said. “Really, really happy. Get that guy up as many times as possible.”

After Ramírez got the Guardians on the board and injected an enormous dose of energy throughout the dugout, the team immediately loaded the bases without recording an out, allowing Miller to bring home the game-tying run with a sacrifice fly. With Oscar Gonzalez on second and Andrés Giménez on first, Steven Kwan chopped a ground ball to shortstop.

What looked like a routine forceout at second base was quickly turned into a single for Kwan after Giménez’s tremendous hustle from first beat shortstop Elvis Andrus’ throw to second base. And even after a replay review, the safe call at second was upheld, allowing the Guardians to have just one out (rather than two), leaving the possibility for a sacrifice fly to win the game.

“We’ve been preaching since the first day of Spring Training: Just push,” Francona said. “Push. You never know. Push. And [Giménez’s] quad hasn’t been feeling great. He’s done a good job of managing it. That’s a game-winner right there for us.”

Now, with just one out and the bases loaded thanks to Giménez, the bottom of the Guardians’ order had a chance to save the day. Maile was able to get enough behind a 2-2 slider to lift it just deep enough into right field to allow Gonzalez to tag up and score the winning run from third base, as the dugout emptied and chased Maile down the first-base line in celebration. It marked Maile’s fourth career walk-off plate appearance and first since June 9, 2018 as a member of the Blue Jays.

“There's nothing like it,” Maile said. “There's no better feeling. It's awesome.”


Since 2016, the Guardians’ 45 walk-off wins are tied for the second most in the Majors, behind Oakland’s 57 walk-off victories. And even though this roster entered the year with low expectations, it’s continually proved that it has more fight than most projected.

“They’re young, they’re having fun, they’re playing,” Francona said of his team. “We’re going up against some men. We got some kids and they’re doing OK.”


Andres Gimenez
Mandy Bell covers the Guardians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.

civ - Stephan and Gose's sorta "B squad" innings last night turned out to be key - keeping the game close enough for the 9th to happen. Sandlin too but he's a tad above B squad.

sure did!


and then on Saturday the A team relievers all had problems. So it goes

That 4 run inning on Saturday was just like the 9th on Friday: Jose sparked it, situational hitting and presto 4 runs score

They're playing baseball at brunchtime today. I checked in at 1 p.m. and was surprised to them already in the 6th. Guess who drove in 2 in the first; and Rosario has a pair of doubles; and Naylor [#32] and Miller [#30] added to their RBI totals. Quantrill good 6 innings. Shaw the 7th.

Back to Morgan in the 8th?
Sandlin?

Straw with a pair of hits today; his bat has been pretty silent but he keeps walking and playing great CF

3 on for Jose; I think they'll have to pitch to him

ground out plates a run; it's 6-1 now; and he's up to 59 RBI

Stephan in the 8th; right-- he was sharper than Sandlin on Friday so he's the logical pick

Sandin has walked 11 in his most recent 7 innings.

civ - I am cutting Eli some slack yesterday. A complete mental error by Josh Naylor on a double play ball led to that inning.

As for today - I foresee a trip to Columbus in Stephan's future.

and Stephen follows in the bullpen footsteps from Saturday and allows 2 solo 2 out homers. Still up for 3 Clase.

TFIR wrote:
As for today - I foresee a trip to Columbus in Stephan's future.

No crystal ball necessary.