Jhonkensy Noel homered again on Saturday against the Royals, making him just the fifth player to homer in each of his first two career starts for Cleveland.
The others:
Jhonkensy Noel homered of Baltimore’s Grayson Rodriguez in his first career at-bat on Wednesday.
He’s just the fourth player in franchise history to homer in his first career at-bat, joining:
Kouzmanoff’s home run was famously a grand slam on the first pitch of his career.
Noel also wore No. 43 in his debut, a common number in team history but rarely by hitters. Noel is just the third position player to wear No. 43, joining Chuck Tanner in 1959 and Mike Aldrete in 1991. Jh
Bo Naylor collected a double and a triple last night at Baltimore. His triple was the first by a Cleveland catcher since Roberto Perez in July 2019 at Kansas City.
Collecting a couple and a triple is even more rare for a catcher, as its happened just four time since 1980:
Last night against the Orioles, Bo Naylor, Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio combined for 7 hits and 5 RBI while occupying the 7-8-9 spots in the order. It was the first time the bottom third of the order collected at least 7 hits and 5 RBI since 2019.
Most recent 7-8-9 hitters with 7+ hits and 5+ RBI:
Scott Barlow pitched a perfect 9th with three strikeouts to pick up the save last night against the Orioles. We could call this an Immaculate Save (though I think it should be called a Kimbrel, as Craig is the all-time leader by a wide margin with 36).
It was the 30th Immaculate Save (striking out every batter in a save of at least three outs) in franchise history.
Brad Hand and Chris Perez are the franchise leaders with four apiece.
The most impressive Immaculate Save in team history belongs to Dave LaRoche. He’s the only one in franchise history to strikeout all four batters he faced in save doing so against Boston, striking out, in order: Fred Lynn, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice and Bobby Darwin.
Over the past two games, Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez each hit their 20th home run of the season.
It’s the first time anyone for Cleveland reached 20 home runs before the All-Star Game since 2018 and the seventh time in franchise history multiple players reached 20 homers before the break:
Angel Martinez made his MLB debut today against the Blue Jays, making him and his father Sandy Martinez the seventh father/son duo in franchise history. Sandy played one game in 2004 starting at catcher for the injured Victor Martinez.
The other father/son duos:
Nick Sandlin gave up a grand slam to the Blue Jays’ Dalton Varsho yesterday and was removed from the game before recording an out.
He’s the 12th pitcher in franchise history to give up a grand slam without recording an out. The others:
Latman and Barker were the only ones to do so as a starting pitcher. Latman and Shaw were the only ones to give up multiple home runs in the game.
Lilliquist (vs Detroit’s Lou Whitaker) and Shuey (vs Anaheim’s Tim Salmon) gave up walk-off grand slams.
In 11 games since returning from the IL, Steven Kwan is batting .535. Not only is it an impressive performance immediately following an IL stint, its the the third highest batting average in a single-season 11-game span for Cleveland since 1994.
Here’s the leaderboard in that span with a minimum of 40 PA and excluding overlapping streaks:
Justice’s 1997 season appears on here twice. It was two separate streaks with no overlapping games, one in May and another in August.
Last night against the Blue Jays, all six pitchers used by the Guardians recorded either a win, hold or save.
It’s just the eighth time in franchise history the team used at least six pitchers and everyone recorded a decision.
| Date | Opp | Win | Hold | Hold | Hold | Hold | Hold | Save |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/14/2024 | TOR | Logan Allen | Cade Smith | Scott Barlow | Sam Hentges | Hunter Gaddis | Emmanuel Clase | |
| 9/8/2023 | LAA | Logan Allen | Nick Sandlin | Sam Hentges | Reynaldo Lopez | Trevor Stephan | Emmanuel Clase | |
| 10/1/2017 | CHW | Josh Tomlin | Joe Smith | Tyler Olson | Zach McAllister | Andrew Miller | Bryan Shaw | Cody Allen |
| 9/9/2017 | BAL | Josh Tomlin | Joe Smith | Craig Breslow | Dan Otero | Bryan Shaw | Cody Allen | |
| 7/15/2011 | BAL | Josh Tomlin | Chad Durbin | Rafael Perez | Joe Smith | Vinnie Pestano | Chris Perez | |
| 8/1/2010 | TOR | Jeanmar Gomez | Tony Sipp | Frank Hermann | Rafael Perez | Joe Smith | Chris Perez | |
| 4/1/1998 | SEA | Jaret Wright | Eric Plunk | Al Morman | Jose Mesa | Paul Assenmacher | Mike Jackson | |
| 9/6/1997 | CHW | Bartolo Colon | Albie Lopez | Al Morman | Mike Jackson | Paul Assenmacher | Jose Mesa |