Fresh off bye, Guardians pounce in Game 1 rout
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — For playoff teams that earn a bye into the division series, there’s always a bit of trepidation that they’ll exhibit some rust in their first postseason game.
The Cleveland Guardians, however, weren’t having any of it Saturday.
After a five-day layoff, the Guardians ambushed the Detroit Tigers, scoring five times in the first inning and winning 7-0 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five AL Division Series.
“It was definitely a topic for a lot of the coaches, not to go in and just go through the motions,” left fielder Steven Kwan said of the team’s week of practice. “Try to be intentional. It worked out today.”
Kwan got the ball rolling for the home team, missing a home run by inches to lead off the game while settling for a double. He nearly batted again in the inning as Cleveland blew up the Tigers’ strategy of using an opener. Starter Tyler Holton didn’t record an out, and the man who replaced him — righty Reese Olson — was promptly greeted with a first-pitch blast off the bat of Lane Thomas.
The Guardians’ five runs tied for the most in the first inning of a playoff game in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.
“To the players’ credit, they put a ton of effort into our workouts,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “They got competitive with each other in some simulated games, and it showed. We came out ready to swing the bat, and we looked like we didn’t take five days off.”
The run support benefited starter Tanner Bibee, who went 4⅔ scoreless innings and walked off the mound to a standing ovation. He was followed by four relievers who didn’t give up a hit the rest of the game, including rookie Cade Smith, who struck out all four batters he faced. They all threw well, but it was a lot easier to pitch with that early lead.
Designated hitter David Fry was asked how the team stayed ready for this moment.
“We had live at-bats all week, hitting off the machine, just different things that we could do to kind of stay ready, stay on top of velocity and that kind of thing,” he said.
Fry added a two-run double in the sixth inning, giving the Guardians’ bullpen even more cushion. It was all part of a seven-hit, five-walk attack spread out among eight of their starters. Cleveland simply produced good at-bats up and down its lineup.
“Living and dying by the home run is hard sometimes,” Kwan said. “Being able to manufacture runs in different ways was cool.”
The Guardians saw 153 pitches to the Tigers’ 124, but with a day off between games, Detroit should have its bullpen fully available for Game 2. The Tigers will start ace Tarik Skubal — who usually doesn’t need much help from the bullpen — while Cleveland will hand the ball to veteran Matthew Boyd.
“What Matthew has brought is just consistency,” Vogt said. “He’s been the same every time out. He’s attacked the zone. He’s got really good stuff, able to keep them off balance and really stabilized our rotation when we got him back healthy.”
Boyd returned from Tommy John surgery in August after signing with the team in June, making eight starts in the regular season while compiling a 2.72 ERA. Now he’ll be on the mound for a playoff game.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I’d know I would be here,” Boyd said. “But this is what you work for. … Our coaches did a great job this week getting us ready.”
So it isn’t just the hitters who benefited from the week of practice, according to Boyd and others. Pitchers were intentional about their work, as well. The effort showed up in a big way in Game 1, both on the mound and at the plate.
And as a result, Cleveland has early control of the series.
“They worked really hard over the course of this week to stay ready,” Vogt said, “and for us to be able to come out and jump on them, it was just a huge day for all of our guys.”
LAS COLINAS, Texas — Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told leaders of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday that the sport’s calendar needs to change, and it’s a critical component as they consider the playoff’s future format.
Bjork, just months removed from watching his Buckeyes win the national title, attended a portion of the annual CFP spring meetings to provide feedback with the three other athletic directors who participated in semifinals and hosted first-round games: Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who is part of the CFP’s management committee along with the 10 FBS commissioners.
Bjork said CFP executive director Rich Clark asked if he had one major point he wanted to make before leaving.
“We’ve had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork told ESPN. “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff … but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don’t fix our calendar as an industry, then we’re going to continue to have unintended consequences.”
Bjork shared with the commissioners the perspective of a school trying to win a national title while classes had begun Jan. 6. Ohio State’s academic advisers traveled with the team to the semifinal and national title game, he said, but some athletes missed class and the school had to apply for waivers around the countable athletically related activities, which limits schools to 20 hours of practice time while classes are in session.
“When you don’t have class, there is no limit to CARA hours,” he said, noting that Texas started classes later. “It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what’s countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?”
Bjork said the transfer portal needs to move to a 10-day period in May for fall sports because if the NCAA House settlement is approved, most of the players are going to be signing revenue share agreements with the schools from July 1 to June 30.
“May makes the most sense” to align player contracts with the portal, Bjork said.
Bjork, who said he’s on the implementation committee for the House settlement, said “if everyone follows the structure, it’s going to be a great structure.”
“And everyone has to follow the rules,” he said, “and agree that this is the structure, which we have to. If we don’t do that, then what good is the settlement?”
CLEVELAND — New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton took batting practice with teammates Tuesday as he continues to recover from elbow issues.
Stanton took swings before the game at Progressive Field as the Yankees prepared for the middle game of their series against the Cleveland Guardians.
While Stanton has been working behind the scenes, this was the first time he has taken outdoor batting practice. Manager Aaron Boone did not mention anything about Stanton’s progress during his pregame availability.
Stanton, 35, has been dealing with tendinitis in both elbows, with the ailment known as “tennis elbow” shutting him down since spring training. He has said his elbows also bothered him last season and that it’s a matter of pain tolerance.
The team does not have a timetable for Stanton’s return to their lineup. It’s likely he’ll have to go on a minor league rehab assignment before he’s ready to play in major league games.
Stanton is in his eighth season with New York. Last season, he hit 27 homers and drove in 72 runs in 114 games, and in the postseason, he was among the club’s top hitters. As the Yankees advanced to the World Series, he finished with 15 hits, including seven home runs, and 16 RBIs.
Stanton has 429 homers in 15 seasons with the Yankees and Marlins.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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