During the Guardians 7-0 loss to the Padres on Tuesday night, Nolan Jones struck out four times. Dating back to 1980, he’s the team’s 10th player to record a Golden Sombrero in a shutout.
Hunter Gaddis appeared in each of the Guardians first three games, the first pitcher to do so since Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez each appeared in the first three games of the 2012 season.
Since Emmanuel Clase blew the save on Opening Day, it opened the door for Paul Sewald to come in an record a save in extra innings.
Since the role of closer was first established (roughly the late 1960s, early 1970s), only two pitchers have recorded a save on Opening Day for Cleveland who did not lead the team in saves that year (which is obviously likely the case for Sewald).
In 2014, John Axford recorded the save. He was the Opening Day closer, but Cody Allen was given the job later that year and would lead the team in saves.
In 1997, Paul Shuey recorded the Opening Day save. He was filling in as closer at the start of the year for Jose Mesa, who was inactive due to his active rape trial.
Steven Kwan is the Opening Day lead off hitter for the third consecutive season, becoming the sixth player in franchise history to hold that role on Opening Day in three straight years.
Jose Ramirez has collected at least 65 extra-base hits in each of the last four seasons (2021-24). He’s the sixth player with such a streak in team history.
Jose Ramirez hit 20 HR and stole 21 bases in Progressive Field this year, just the ninth 20/20 home season in history. Back in 2008, Grady Sizemore had the sixth such season.