July 3, 2026
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:
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:
In 2023, Emmanuel Clase tied for the franchise record for saves before the All-Star Game. This year he’s broken it, picking up his 26th save on Saturday against the Giants.
The pre-All-Star-Game saves leaderboard:
Through his first 10 starts with Cleveland, Ben Lively has a 2.59 ERA. Over the last 100 years, its the seventh lowest ERA through a pitcher’s first 10 starts with Cleveland.
Gaylord Perry (1.69) has the lowest in that span from 1972, followed closely by another 1972 acquisition Milt Wilcox.
Here are the nine pitchers with an ERA under 3.00 through their first 10 starts with Cleveland over the last 50 seasons:
Emmanuel Clase in May: 9 saves, 0.00 ERA, 14 K in 13 IP
It’s the 42nd time in MLB history a pitcher had at least 9 saves in a month without allowing a run and with more strikeouts than innings pitched. The last to do it was Clase in September, 2022.
The only other Cleveland closer on the list is Jose Mesa in July 1995.
Emmanuel Clase’s 44 saves in 2023 were the fourth most in franchise history and also made him the first person in franchise history with multiple 40-save seasons.
Most saves in franchise history:
Emmanuel Clase, who was named to the All-Star team for the second consecutive year, matched Joe Borowski‘s team record for saves in the first half with 25.
The list:
James Karinchack entered last night’s game in the seventh inning with a 7-3 lead, but the bases were loaded and Pete Alonso at the plate. Karinchack promptly surrendered a game-tying grand slam.
It was the seventh time in franchise history Cleveland allowed a game-tying grand slam in the seventh inning or later. The others:
The Tingley grand slam off Mesa stands out as the most shocking on the list. Tingley was a journeyman backup catcher who hit 10 career home runs, the first of which came a member of the Indians in 1988.