May 5, 2026
Cleveland won 2-0 against the Mariners on Saturday night off solo home runs by Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor.
It’s the first time the team has won a game with its only scoring coming on two or more solo home runs since a Jake Bauers and Leonys Martin homered off Gerrit Cole in 2019 for a 2-1 victory over the Astros.
In the third game of the season, Aaron Civale and the Guardians shut out the Mariners 2-0, avenging the 3-0 loss on Opening Day.
It’s just the sixth time in franchise history they have been shut out and pitched a shutout within the first three games of the season.
The others:
In 1992, the opening series at Camden Series, all three games were shutouts. Rick Sutcliffe shut out the Tribe on Opening Day, Dave Otto and Rod Nichols combined on a shutout of the O’s and Ben McDonald wrapped up the series with another shutout.
Steven Kwan went 2-4 with 5 RBI against the Mariners on Friday night. It was his second career 5-RBI game, making him the fourth player in franchise history with multiple 5-RBI games from the leadoff spot.
The others:
The feat has been accomplished 21 times in franchise history. A few other notables: Cesar Hernandez, Jordan Luplow, Francisco Lindor, Coco Crisp and Dale Mitchell.
Will Brennan, starting in right field, is the sixth rookie to start on Opening Day dating back to 2000, joining:
Christian Arroyo, once a well-regarded prospect in the Giants system and a key piece of the Giants/Rays Evan Longoria trade, had a brief stint in Cleveland in 2020.
Arroyo appeared in one game, entering in the ninth inning of a 9-2 win over the Royals, replacing Francisco Lindor and playing third base (Yu Chang shifted over to shortstop).
A few weeks later Arroyo was placed on waivers and claimed by Boston, where he has carved out a role and will likely open the season as their second baseman in 2022.
Arroyo’s one-inning stint with the Indians made him the 11th player in franchise history to appear in a game, but never see a plate appearance or take the mound as a pitcher.
The full list:
Most of the players on this list saw their action as a pinch runner, however. Arroyo is one of just three to only play defense, joining Lawrence (catcher) and Nicholls (shortstop).
Steven Kwan went 5-11 with the bases loaded last season, with a two singles, a double, triple and grand slam. He’s the 10th player in franchise history to hit for the cycle with the bases loaded in a single season.
The others:
Shane Bieber is third in franchise history and 32nd in MLB history in most strikeouts through his first five seasons:
Although the sample size is small (57 plate appearances), Gabriel Arias‘s 14% walk rate in 2022 was encouraging. It’s not easy for a rookie to remain patient at the plate.
Here’s a look at the franchise leaders for highest walk rate in a debut season with at least 50 plate appearances:
Over the last 40 seasons, only two Cleveland rookies have started at least 15 games while posting an ERA under 3.50: Cody Anderson in 2015 and T.J. House in 2014.
It’s odd that such a list would feature such irrelevant players, as neither had much hype as prospects or did much beyond their rookie years.
Here’s a few others who accomplished the feat, dating back to 1955 (it was slightly more common before then):
1975 – Dennis Eckersley
1972 – Dick Tidrow
1964 – Luis Tiant
1958 – Gary Bell
1955 – Herb Score
In 2022, Jhonkensy Noel became the third player since 1990 to lead the Cleveland farm system in home runs under the age of 21. Noel hit 32 home runs at Lake County and Akron (he also played a few games in Columbus, but did not homer).
The others were Bobby Bradley in 2015 (27 home runs at age 19) and Russell Branyan (40 at age 20).
Prior to Branyan, the feat hadn’t been accomplished since Tom Anderson, the team’s 1978 first-round pick, led farm system in homers in 1978 (22 at age 19) and 1979 (30 at age 20).
Anderson never made it to the majors and in 1980 ended up in the San Francisco Giants farm system. I was unable to track down the transaction which sent him there – it certainly seems like an odd move for a recent first-round pick displaying power in the minors, but by 1982 he was out of the game.