News and Notes: Guardians Ruin Twins’ Home Opener

It’s a lot of fun to ruin your top rival’s home opener and that’s just what the Guardians did on Thursday, beating the Twins 4-2 behind an excellent start from Tanner Bibee.

It’s a very young season but this was a satisfying win for the Guardians for which you’re going to want to watch the highlights. After a rough first start, Bibee went five and a third allowing five hits, one run and striking out nine Twins. The bullpen was nails again, allowing one run in three and two thirds from Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Scott Barlow and Emmanuel Clase. After one hanging slider crushed by Carlos Correa, Barlow struck out the side. Herrin allowed a hit, a walk and a hit-by-pitch but still struckout two, and Gaddis and Clase allowed zero drama in their outings. It was Bibee who was the star, clearly, inducing 17 whiffs.

Despite some Twins fans complaining about Guardians’ good luck on Twitter, the Guardians had a .252 expected batting average in the game and the Twins had .237. Steven Kwan went 3 for 5, continuing his hot start, and Andres Gimenez, Jose Ramirez, Tyler Freeman and Will Brennan added hits. Although Bo Naylor had a walk, it was definitely one of the roughest Bo games for a while, as he committed a TOOTBLAN, let a “wild pitch” go by, and had a ROUGH passed ball. These games are going to happen but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hedges catch tonight to give him a breather at DH. The beginning of the season can be a lot for young players. Ramon Laureano struggled going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch. My main criticism for manager Steven Vogt, and it’s a small one, is that he should give folks like Estevan Florial and Gabriel Arias opportunities vs. RHP over Laureano. It’s tempting to trust the veteran against an ace like Pablo Lopez, but Laureano truly looks lost verses right-handers.

Speaking of Lopez, it was extremely gratifying to see the Guardians get all four runs (three earned) off of the Twins’ best pitcher. They were shut down by a lively Twins pen, so hopefully, they can continue to get to Minnesota starters as this series goes forward on Saturday, with the traditional day off after Opening Day happening today.

All minor league affiliates for the Guardians are set to open today, except for Columbus which has, of course, already started, splitting a double-header yesterday (during one of which the rehabbing Ben Lively had a strong appearance). Check out our Clippers preview, Rubber Ducks preview, Captains preview, and Hillcats preview here. It should be a pivotal minor-league season for the Guardians as they need to see the system restocked. Speaking of that, FanGraphs released their list of top Guardians’ prospects yesterday, to mixed reaction from the fanbase. Let’s hope Juan Brito proves their defensive projections wrong and Kyle Manzardo proves their power projections wrong, for starters, but the 55 future value grade on Chase DeLauter is nice to see.

Zack Meisel of the Athletic posted a great piece including stories from fans from the past thirty years of Progressive Field history. I was honored to have the story of how I was coached by Mike Hargrove to propose to my wife included:

My friends won tickets to the Mike Hargrove suite and invited me and my then-girlfriend to join them. Mike and Sharon Hargrove were so kind and welcoming. Halfway through the game, Mike leans over and says, “So, Chelsea seems like a really nice girl. When are you going to ask her to marry you?” I’d already begun to have the inclination, but I knew at that moment I was only going to get coached by Mike Hargrove once. I better listen to the skipper. Eight years later, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and we have four beautiful children I’ll take to several games a year as long as I’m able.

Meisel also published an article about the upcoming home opener and the eclipse.

Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes wrote about Brayan Rocchio’s strong start for the Guardians, and included a note that Sam Hentges threw recently and is traveling with the team. MLB.com’s Mandy Bell described Tanner Bibee’s mindset entering yesterday and included notes about how much fun the team seems to be having in this promising 6-2 start. You love to see it. Let’s keep it up today, boys!

Around MLB:

The Mets won their first game as the Tigers lost their first in the second game of a double-header.

The Pirates are starting hot.

The Oakland Athletics are moving to Sacramento temporarily next year. We think?

The uniforms continue to be a problem, leading to an all-time corporate speak quote from Nike: