MINNEAPOLIS — Austin Hedges’ voice, per usual, boomed through the Cleveland Guardians’ clubhouse about two hours before the first pitch of a doubleheader at Target Field on Friday.
He ambushed every teammate who entered the room with the same prompt: How would you fare in surviving an apocalypse?
Hedges created tiers — those who would thrive, those who would weather the elements and those who stood no chance. (Josh Naylor, Hedges declared, fell into the last category.)
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Ten hours later, it appeared as if the apocalypse had arrived. The Guardians dropped both games in that doubleheader on Friday, stretching their losing streak to seven games.
But this is how they have operated all year, whether surging or slumping. They’re wholly unbothered by previous results. They’re talking about apocalypses instead of stressing about their AL Central lead. And they rebounded in a critical way on Saturday and Sunday to regain some breathing room.
Here are some thoughts on where the Guardians stand with seven weeks remaining in the regular season.
A 14-pitch walk sparks a rally
The Guardians drew zero walks on Friday night and only one on Saturday, and that didn’t come until there were two outs in the ninth. Every hitter wants to be the one to rescue his club from a funk, and the Twins expertly used that aggressiveness against them by tossing a bevy of changeups.
“You swing more,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “You try to make things happen. A lot of times, hitters, we tend to try to swing our way out of things.”
Cleveland hitters swung at 23 of Bailey Ober’s changeups on Friday night and they whiffed 11 times, which explains why Ober threw as many changeups as fastballs. When they did connect, they registered an average exit velocity of 69.8 mph. In other words, that was a master class in how to stymie a team with a fastball/changeup combination, and it sparked memories of Lucas Giolito similarly dominating Cleveland lineups when he pitched for the White Sox.
Bailey Ober putting on a Changeup show.
11 Swings & Misses. pic.twitter.com/GHk5AlBA0z
See AlsoMLB The Show 23: Equipment GuideMLB The Show 23 Best Batting Stances To UseMLB The Show 23: How To Make The Best Batting Stance🔥Master Your Swing: Discover the Best Batting Stance in MLB The Show 23🎮— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 9, 2024
The most impressive at-bat of the series, then, goes to Andrés Giménez, who recorded a 14-pitch walk that sparked the Guardians’ four-run sixth on Sunday. The battle with Twins reliever Caleb Thielbar included 10 foul balls. Thielbar tried seven sweepers, five fastballs and two curveballs, but Giménez wouldn’t cave. He said he peered at the dugout nine or 10 pitches into the at-bat and noticed his teammates in a frenzy.
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“For, like, seven straight pitches, we were going nuts,” said David Fry.
Giménez only saw fastballs and sweepers for the first 12 pitches, but he knew Thielbar had the curveball in his arsenal. So when Thielbar finally tossed two, Giménez wasn’t caught off guard. He resisted them and drew the walk.
“Someone came up to me,” Fry said, “and was like, ‘That was way more exciting than your home run.’”
Andrés Giménez knew he was wearing down the pitcher with a 14-pitch at-bat and talks about the encouragement he got from the bench to get the pitch count up. #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/HnFOxh67K0
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) August 11, 2024
It marked the longest at-bat by a Cleveland hitter since José Ramírez’s 17-pitch encounter against Houston’s Ken Giles which resulted in a leadoff double in the ninth inning on May 27, 2018.
“It’s a pain,” said Tanner Bibee. “That’s a real back-breaker. I’ve had a couple of those this year. It’s a tough one to swallow. You’re executing pitches and they just keep touching it, keep touching it, don’t put it in play, just keep touching it. And then you think he’s in swing mode and he just takes four balls. It’s an awesome at-bat.”
Daniel Schneemann followed Giménez’s walk with an eight-pitch walk of his own. That’s 22 pitches to two batters, with both left-handed hitters reaching base against a southpaw. Hedges’ dugout cheers, in particular, could be heard from Minnetonka. Both Giménez and Schneemann wound up scoring.
Struggles with righties
Still, the pieces of this lineup don’t quite fit. The Guardians hadn’t led at the end of an inning in five days (39 innings) before Steven Kwan socked a leadoff homer on Saturday, which Vogt said released a pressure valve in the dugout.
“Offense brings energy,” Vogt said.
Lane Thomas has obliterated left-handed pitching the past couple of years, but he has struggled to handle righties, which makes him a less-than-ideal choice for the No. 2 spot in the order. Thomas is 5-for-42 since joining the Guardians.
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• Thomas vs. RHP: .207/.284/.332
• Thomas vs. LHP: .316/.395/.495
“When you get traded,” Vogt said, “you feel like, ‘I need to come in and do more than what I’ve done in the past.’”
If Thomas sits against certain righties, Vogt would have more flexibility in optimizing his usage. He could then deploy him against a lefty later in the game, instead of hoping his spot in the order conveniently comes up when a southpaw is on the mound. Or, he could use him as a pinch runner (94th percentile sprint speed) or defensive replacement (95th percentile arm strength).
Fry presents a similar case.
• Fry vs. RHP: .250/.308/.351
• Fry vs. LHP: .306/.465/.612
There’s room on the roster for another left-handed stick to offer the club a more balanced attack.
Fry’s lack of defensive versatility has hamstrung Vogt as well. Fry has caught once since the last week of June when he first dealt with elbow inflammation. He hasn’t started in the outfield in that span, either.
Starting rotation outlook
Vogt said Gavin Williams had “a look in his eye” before the game Saturday, and Williams proceeded to submit his best start of the season. Kwan faced Williams when the hurler was working his way back from injury.
“He dissected me,” Kwan said. “It was fastball at the top, cutter backdoor, curveball and I’m way out in front. He can be that guy if everything’s working.”
Bibee followed suit Sunday in his return from a shoulder injury. Those two are the present and future anchors of Cleveland’s rotation. They combined to limit the Twins to two runs (and no walks) in 11 2/3 innings.
It’s how the rest of the unit performs that could determine whether the Guardians have enough steam to power through to the finish line.
If Vogt had yanked Alex Cobb before Matt Wallner tagged him for a three-run homer — “I thought about it,” Vogt said — Cobb’s results would have been far more encouraging. Matthew Boyd will start Tuesday against the Cubs in his first big-league action since June 26, 2023.
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Three months ago, Boyd was coaching his son’s T-ball team and his daughter’s softball team while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at home in the Seattle area. He said he’s grateful to have had the opportunity to see the trees bloom and to spend part of spring and summer with his family, but he’s ready for the second act of his career.
“I have my best baseball ahead of me,” said the 33-year-old.
In late June, Boyd was throwing live batting practice at a community college in Bellevue, Wash., with his dad operating a TrackMan device and college hitters standing in the batter’s box. Six weeks later, he’ll be tasked with helping the Guardians in their postseason pursuits.
(Photo of José Ramírez: Adam Bettcher / Getty Images)
Zack Meisel is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball. Zack was named the 2021 Ohio Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association and won first place for best sports coverage from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been on the beat since 2011 and is the author of four books, including "Cleveland Rocked," the tale of the 1995 team. Follow Zack on Twitter @ZackMeisel
