News and Notes: Guardies Never Say Die

The Guardians walked back to their locker room on Sunday chanting “We don’t quit!”

The Guardians were down to the Yankees 3-0, then 4-2, then 7-5 entering the bottom of the tenth and they found a way to win in walk-off fashion on an Andres Gimenez sac fly, 8-7, sending the Bronx Bombers home with a series win instead of a series split.

Death, taxes and the player you discarded coming back to bite you in the butt, as Estevan Florial hit his second home run of the series, a pinch-hit variety off Luke Weaver in the eighth. He was pretty excited to homer off his former team:

Manager Stephen Vogt has called him “Flo” several times in postgame, which is perfect for Progressive Field, as Guardians Twitter’s Michael Hook pointed out:

Though he was coming off a rough two games to start the series and 0 for 8 in the regular season versus Nestor Cortes, Jose Ramirez found a way to pull a fly ball early in the game:

Jose also put up an incredible at-bat in the bottom of the 10th, fouling off several pitches before lacing the eighth pitch he saw for a single. Hopefully, this is the beginning of Jose turning things around after a slow start. The Yankees failed to turn a double-play on a Josh Naylor grounder to second that shortstop Anthony Volpe fumbled in the transfer. David Fry, then, smoked a double off the lefty reliever Tyler Ferguson, a seemingly inevitable outcome:

Will Brennan against a lefty is a different experience. Brennan stepped to the plate having taken a very circuitous route to a hard hit fly ball off Anthony Volpe which tied the game in the bottom of the ninth off Emmanuel Clase. (I was unsure why Brennan was subbed in for Florial, it was a bit of over-managing that seemed to tempt the baseball gods in my humble opinion). Brennan was able to make contact and gave Yankees’ second baseman, Gleyber Torres, the opportunity to bobble the ball, resulting in all runners being safe and giving Andres Gimenez the chance to end the game:

In a game like this, it’s impossible to fully cover all the heroes. Gabriel Arias had a great game at the plate, even hitting a home run off left-hander Nestor Cortes, and ended up in right-field by the bottom of the 10th. I’d kind of like to see the team find a way to play both Arias and Rocchio at least five days a week to really try to get the best read on the two before some sort of decision needs to be made.

Josh Naylor made one of the dumbest mistakes I’ve seen in a while, getting caught stealing third base with two outs, but atoned for it in his next at-bat with an RBI double. Someone really needs to sit the big man down and tell him that stealing third is not an option.

The pitching was uneven, with Logan Allen battling but giving up big home runs to Aaron Judge and Jose Trevino, Tyler Beede fell behind Judge to start the top of the 10th before giving up a swinging bunt single to Giancarlo Stanton then a hard hit grounder by Anthony Rizzo that may have been playable if the infield wasn’t drawn in. So, it wasn’t Beede’s best outing, in other words, but it wasn’t bad. He was saved by a double-play by David Fry and Bo Naylor that Vogt said, after the game, should lead the day’s top play package for Sportscenter:

Really, the Yankees series should be encouraging to Guardians fans. Minus a clunker on Saturday night, the team showed they can compete with a team that should be in the upper echelon of the American League. Also, it’s simply so much fun to beat the Yankees and to do so in such a crazy game, a dynamic Vogt remarked on after the game:

The big issue for Vogt and the Guardians is figuring out the starting pitching that is forcing the bullpen to cover more innings than any other relief staff in baseball.

So, with that in mind: “Prepare yourself for the Lively-Curry experience!” This is both the slogan for a new entree at local restaurant and the motto for the Guardians’ new look rotation:

I am assuming Peter Strzelecki and Tim Herrin will be optioned to make room for Lively and Curry? We will quickly discover what Curry can provide in today’s early start at 11:10AM EST in Boston.

Around MLB:

Today is a day to remember all that Jackie Robinson did for the game of baseball.

The Tigers beat the Twins again and the Mets helped cool off the Royals, leaving the Guardians in first place entering the week.