Cleveland’s offense did their job last night against southpaw starter Tyler Anderson getting three runs on six hits. Angels lefty starter Reid Detmers is on the bump for LA and comes in with an ERA above five.
Last night Andres Gimenez had an opportunity to get the tying run Mike Trout out at home in the 9th, but the throw was poor allowing Trout to score. Terry Francona looked visibly upset after the play and after the game commented to the press about Gimenez’s throw “He just yanked the throw. If he throws that ball up the line, everybody’s saying that’s the play of the night.”
Mike Zunino was a late scratch because of neck stiffness as Cam Gallagher replaced Zunino. Gallagher did a nice job behind the plate outside of the catcher’s interference in the top of the 5th inning.
The Cleveland Guardians have lost six out of the last ten games heading into this series as the team’s offense continues to flounder. Cleveland has scored just 13 times in this current homestand which includes the team being shut out twice. The Guardians have gone 3-3 in that time thanks to the team’s starting pitching. On Friday night, after taking a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th, closer Emmanuel Clase couldn’t hold it in the 9th and the Guardians fell 5-4 to drop the series opener.
The Los Angeles Angels are still very much alive in what has been a relatively quiet start for much of the AL West Division. The Angels are within three games of first-place Texas and are ahead of the perennial division winners, the Houston Astros. The Angels followed up a recent five-game winning streak by losing four of their last five games heading into this series including the final two games of their series with the Astros. On Friday night, the Angels battled back from a 2-0 deficit and then again 4-3 in the 9th inning to pull out a 5-4 win.
This season, the Guardians have struggled against left-handed pitching, hitting only .214. Their home record is particularly poor, with a batting average of just .208. However, Detmers has performed better on the road than at home, and with his high strikeout rate and low walk rate, he should be able to prevent the fast Guardians from getting on base. Meanwhile, although Quantrill recently achieved a one-hitter, his overall performance this season has been rather ordinary. He’s had difficulty striking out batters, with a career-low percentage. On the other hand, the Angels have a road batting average of .255, with 19 home runs in 19 games away from home. This is in contrast to the Guardians, who have only hit 19 home runs as a team this entire season.
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