Strong offensive performance powers Guardians to win behind Cecconi quality.
Slade was amazing today. The final line won’t reflect that. He had 17+ outs on 3 or fewer pitches tonight, and barring a few bad pitches to Langeliers and Rooker, was dominant. His bid for the first 9-inning complete game start by a Guardian since 2022 was spoiled by some poor defense from Johnathan Rodriguez in right field. More on that later.
The offense was fantastic, again, tonight. 8 runs. Slowed down a little bit toward the end of the game, which made for a stressful watch as the Athletics began to inch back. But still, 8 runs are 8 runs. Rodriguez started off the scoring against J.P. Sears with his first career major league home run.
J-Rod knocks his first career homer! #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/hFBlVwaN0C
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 18, 2025
Rocchio had a nice, well-hit double to center and Martinez drove him in right after.
Fry, after Martinez, hit this 2-run homer. His 4th on the season.
David Fry starts out the second half strong. #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/8nqhaZQmyp
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 18, 2025
Jose tripled, Santana drove him in. Wilson walked and Naylor reached on a fielder’s choice error to first. Rocchio had another hard-hit double to drive both of them in.
Rocchio making some roster decisions very interesting.
Oh, and by the way, there’s been a new addition to the Guardians’ hitting staff. Totally not bringing that up here for any specific reason.
The Guardians called up Triple-A Columbus hitting coach Junior Betances to join the big league staff.
Fills spot after assistant hitting coach Jason Esposito left to join Vanderbilt’s coaching staff.
— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) July 18, 2025
No reason at all.
Nolan Jones had an RBI opposite field single in the 5th, giving the Guardians an 8-1 lead. The Guardians did not score from then on out. Onto the pitching.
Cecconi was great tonight. I don’t care that he gave up “6” runs. Those last three were incredibly fake and aided in large part by Johnathan Rodriguez’s atrocious defense.
Despite those earned runs, Cecconi has a 3.84 ERA on the season. 2nd-lowest on the staff (Gavin Williams).
He looks to be a very, very special player, and I cannot wait to see where his career in Cleveland takes him.
Clase, by the way. Was absolutely shocked to see he’s now sporting a 2.86 ERA on the season. He has a 1.33 ERA in his last 20 games (20.3 IP 16H 3ER 20K 5BB).
Good to see him bounce back after that unfortunate start to the season.
Also, if you’re so inclined, good to see him increase his trade value.
Martinez and Rocchio have been the highlights of this little winning streak (7 of their last 8), and hopefully they can stay hot. This offense desperately needed the bottom of its lineup to start producing, and they’ve started producing.
Nice to get a win. Go take the series tomorrow.