On Saturday in Houston, Travis Bazzana collected a career-high four hits, including two home runs.
He is just the fifth rookie in franchise history with such a game, joining:
- 2022 Oscar Gonzalez
- 2008 Ben Francisco
- 2003 Ben Broussard
- 1934 Hal Trosky
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It’s only June, but Travis Bazzana is almost certain to break this rookie record before the All-Star break.
Bazzana has five home runs this year, three coming since he was inserted into the leadoff role.
Here’s the franchise leaderboard for home runs by rookies in the leadoff spot:
- 2022 Steven Kwan, 5
- 2002 Chris Magruder, 4
- 1992 Kenny Lofton, 4
- 1984 Joe Carter, 4
- 1971 Buddy Bell, 4
In Wednesday’s loss to the Brewers, Daniel Schneemann‘s grand slam provided the only offense in the 9-4 loss.
That’s the first time a grand slam was Cleveland’s only offense since…. Daniel Schneemann’s last grand slam in April!
Here are all the instances dating back to 1990:
- 2026 Daniel Schneemann at MIL
- 2026 Daniel Schneemann vs BAL
- 2018 Jason Kipnis vs CHW
- 2013 Mike Aviles at DET
- 2012 Shelley Duncan at OAK
- 2005 Jeff Liefer at KC
- 2002 Travis Fryman vs KC
- 1998 Enrique Wilson at NYY
- 1996 Albert Belle vs TOR
Kipnis and Belle’s grand slams were walk-offs.
On Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Daniel Schneemann hit his second grand slam of the season and third of his career.
It’s the 46th time in franchise history someone has hit multiple grand slams in a season and the first since Jose Ramirez in 2022.
The franchise record is six by Travis Hafner in 2006.
The overwhelming majority of players on the list are exactly who you would expect, but here are a few names that stick out as more Schneeman-like:
- 2018 Yonder Alonso
- 2004 Ben Broussard
- 2002 Milton Bradley
- 2002 Karim Garcia
- 2000 David Segui
- 1961 Bubba Phillips
- 1957 Chico Carrasquel
In Wednesday’s loss to the Brewers, Gavin Williams gave up a leadoff home run to Christian Yelich.
It was the seventh time in his career he’s surrendered a leadoff homer, tying the franchise record, which was also tied by Tanner Bibee earlier this year.
Here’s the leaderboard:
- Josh Tomlin, 7
- Corey Kluber, 7
- Bibee, 7
- Williams, 7
- CC Sabathia, 6
- Bob Feller, 6
Bibee and Williams also share the team record for most leadoff home runs allowed in a year with four (Bibee this year, Williams last year).
The rise in power hitters batting leadoff is a key factor in these lists featuring recent pitchers. Here’s what the leaderboard looked like entering the 2015 season:
- Sabathia 6,
- Feller, 5
- Charles Nagy, 4
- Scott Bailes, 4
- Phil Niekro, 4
- Greg Swindell 4
At that point in time, Niekro and Rich Yett shared the team record for leadoff homers allowed in a season, both allowing three in 1987.
[Note: Leadoff home runs are sometimes defined as only being by the road team. For the purposes of this stat, I’m including the first batter of the game for each team.]
Injuries have limited Erik Sabrowski to just 66 games through his first three seasons, as he currently sits on the IL.
But through those first 66 games, Sabrowski has been one of the best relievers in baseball, posting a 1.43 ERA.
That’s the second lowest ERA through 66 games over the last 100 years:
- 2005-06 Jonathan Papelbon, BOS – 1.39
- 2024-26 Erik Sabrowski, CLE – 1.43
- 2002-03 Brendan Donnelly, ANA – 1.47
- 2014-15 Ken Giles, PHI – 1.50
- 1964-65 Bob Lee, LAA – 1.56
- 2013-14 Kevin Siegrist, STL 1.56
This leaderboard likely holds throughout all of major league history, due to the heavy use of starting pitchers in the early years of baseball and the rarity of them posting ERAs under 2.00 for an extended period of time. But I can’t say for certain without doing some manual research on earned runs for early 1900s pitchers.
Here’s the Cleveland leaderboard:
- Sabrowski, 1.43
- Don Mossi, 1.85
- Steve Mingori, 2.08
- Rafael Perez, 2.13
- Cade Smith, 2.15
- Kyle Crockett, 2.28
Through his first 20 career starts, Parker Messick has a 2.51 ERA, the fifth lowest in franchise history
- 1911 Vean Gregg – 2.04
- 1949 Mike Garcia – 2.36
- 1902-04 Otto Hess – 2.43
- 1909-10 Willie Mitchell – 2.45
- 2025-26 Parker Messick – 2.51
The only others players since 1950 to post an ERA under 3.00 through 20 career starts are Jim Perry and Dennis Eckersley (both 3.58)
Guardians closer Cade Smith just wrapped up a dominant month of May with a 1.32 ERA while recording a team-record 13 saves.
Here’s the list of the most saves in a calendar month for Cleveland:
- Cade Smith, 13 in May 2026
- Emmanuel Clase, 12 in June 2022
- Jose Mesa, 11 in May 1996
- Jose Mesa, 11 in May 1995
- Doug Jones, 11 in May 1990
The Guardians bullpen blew a 3-2 lead against Boston on Sunday afternoon, extending Tanner Bibee‘s winless streak to 13 games, a franchise record to open the season.
Here’s Cleveland’s all-time leaderboard of winless streaks to open the year:
- 2026 Bibee, 13
- 2021 Sam Hentges, 12
- 1982 Rick Waits, 12
- 1962 Sam McDowell, 12
- 1914 Guy Morton, 12
- 2021 J.C. Mejia, 11
It’s also worth mentioning Scott Elarton, who had a streak of 16 winless starts in 2004 – eight with the Rockies and then eight more after being acquired by Cleveland.
Bibee hasn’t been great, but he also doesn’t deserve to be winless in 13 starts.
Hentges, Waits, McDowell and Mejia all had ERAs of 5.50 or worse.
Bibee’s ERA sits at 4.57, though Morton’s inability to win a game despite a 3.24 ERA was even more baffling.
The MLB record technically belongs to Ryan Stanek, who had separate winless streaks of 27 and 29 games for Tampa, but those were as an opener. The real record is 23 games by Oakland’s Matt Keough in 1979.
The Guardians took down the Red Sox on Friday night allowing Cade Smith to pick up his 20th save of the season.
He’s tied for the fourth fastest in team history to reach 20 saves:
- 1996 Jose Mesa, 51 games
- 1990 Doug Jones, 55 games
- 1995 Jose Mesa, 58 games
- 2012 Chris Perez, 59 games
- 2026 Smith, 59 games