Offense goes quiet as Soriano and the Angels top the Guards in the Opener.
Well.
Infuriating, to say the least. The Guardians had no shortage of scoring opportunities but squandered almost all of them. Whether via 3 (THREE) GIDPs, or an inability to get a 2-out hit with a runner (or runners) on, the Guardians looked hapless against Soriano and the Angels tonight. Jones broke the streak in the 9th with a nice 2-out single. Extremely frustrating to keep losing games to the Angels.
Here’s how the offense fared with runner(s) on tonight:
1st inning, Kwan on 1st, no outs — Martinez GIDP
2nd inning, Manzardo on 1st, no outs — Santana GIDP
3rd inning, Naylor on 1st, 1 out — Jones K, Kwan groundout
4th inning, bases loaded, 2 outs — Arias K
5th inning, Jones on 1st, 1 out — Kwan fielder’s choice, Martinez groundout
6th inning, Manzardo on 1st, 1 out — Santana GIDP
8th inning, runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs — Manzardo K
With two outs in the 9th, the Guardians finally managed to scratch across a run.
Not including tonight’s game, the Guardians are 21st in wRC+ (94) with runners on base. Below them are the Nationals, Brewers, Braves, Orioles, Pirates, Rangers, White Sox, Royals, and Rockies.
Not even to mention Jose lost his hit streak tonight. Silver lining, though, it’s now an on-base streak!
Ortiz was good. 6 innings of 1-run ball. Gave up a lot of hard contact, which continues to be concerning, but most of that contact managed to find a Cleveland glove.
To be fair, the ways in which the Angels scored their 3 runs today were, well, not exactly hard-earned. 2 of those runs came via a sub-90mph bloop single, and the other came via passed ball. The first run came courtesy of a horrible missed strike 3 call, which led to a Soler walk that eventually led to a Soler run scored later in the inning.
Walters left the game in the 9th with an arm injury.
In other news, Lane Thomas is headed to the IL, with Will Brennan the likely candidate to replace him (Thomas’ IL stint has been delayed and aligns with Will Brennan’s eligibility to come off the 10-day IL).
Well, short memory. Win tomorrow.