Joey Cantillo surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced in his MLB debut on Sunday afternoon (Kyle Schwarber). It’s the sixth time in franchise history a pitcher gave up a home run to the first batter he faced.
Robertson’s home run off McCabe was previously the only time it happened to a starting pitcher.
Cantillo later gave up another home run to Schwarber in the third inning. He’s the second player in franchise history to give up two home runs to the same batter in his debut. He joins teammate Hunter Gaddis, who gave up two homers to the Astros’ Trey Mancini in his debut in 2022.
On Sunday, Joey Cantillo became the third Hawaiian-born in franchise history and the first in over three decades.
The first was pitcher Milt Wilcox, who played for Cleveland from 1972-74. The second was outfielder Mike Huff, a Rule 5 selection from the Dodgers, who spent half of the 1991 season with Cleveland.
Phillies rookie Tyler Phillips tossed a shutout against the Guardians on Saturday night in just his fifth career outing. It was just the 17th time in franchise history Cleveland was shut out by a pitcher within his first five career games.
The most recent instances before Phillips:
2013 – Andrew Albers, Twins
2002 – Andy Van Hekken, Tigers
1978 – Ross Baumgarten, White Sox
1967 – Cisco Carlos, White Sox
Van Hekken’s performance was the most notable as it occurred in his MLB debut, and he would make just four more appearances in his career.
Steven Kwan hit his 10th home run of the season on Tuesday night. He’s the 16th different player in franchise history with at least 10 homers from the leadoff spot in a season.
Brayan Rocchio went 0-4 with four strikeouts on Monday night against the Tigers, collecting his first career Golden Sombrero. It was Cleveland’s third Golden Sombrero of the year and the 210th in franchise history.
It was also the 98th time in franchise history a batter struck out in every plate appearance with at least four trips to the plate.
Over their last two games against the Padres, the Guardians scored one run on three hits combined. It’s just the third time in franchise history the team has posted those numbers over a two-game span.
The others
2014 vs Dodgers (Dan Haren) and Mariners (Felix Hernandez)
1910 vs Boston (Charley Hall, Eddie Cicotte)
In 2014, they scored zero runs on just two hits (by Michael Bourn, Lonnie Chisenhall). In 1910, they collected one run on three hits.
Both the other instances occurred on the road, making this the worst offensive two-game stretch in franchise history.
In the fourth inning on Saturday night, Gavin Williams loaded the bases against the Padres, then walked Luis Arraez and two batters later hit Jake Cronenworth.
It was just the ninth time in the last 100 years a Cleveland pitcher walked a batter and hit a batter with the bases loaded.
Everyone on the list except Williams and Feller did it to consecutive batters.
Eckersley’s meltdown was a historically embarrassing moment for the team. In the bottom of the 9th, with the Indians leading 2-1 at Chicago, rookie manager Frank Robinson called up Eck – a rookie reliever making just his ninth career appearance. Eck promptly hit the first batter, tying the game, then issued a walk-off-walk to the next batter.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo selected Reds manager David Bell as the “honorary manager” to join him at the All-Star Game in Texas.
Bell and Lovullo know each other originally from their time together in Cleveland. In 1995, they were teammates in Buffalo, Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. In 1998, they were teammates again in Cleveland.
In Lovullo’s first appearance with Cleveland in ’98, Bell entered the game as his defensive replacement in the late innings.
Lovullo then spent eight years as a manager in Cleveland’s farm system, including four years at Triple-A.