CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
FOUR GAME WIN STREAK REACHES HALT
The Guardians saw a four-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday night in Oakland, shouldering their first walk-off loss of 2023 after getting edged by the Athletics, 4-3, at The Coliseum… Cleveland is 4-2 entering the finale of this season-opening 6-day, 6-game road trip thru Seattle (3-1) & Oakland (1-1); club sits in sole possession of 2nd place, one half-game behind Minnesota (4-1) in the AL Central standings…club’s first scheduled off day of ’23 takes place tomorrow, ahead of Friday’s Home Opener in Cleveland.
Tony Kemp ended the contest on the first pitch of the plate appearance with a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the 9th, sparing Cleveland’s bullpen from a third consecutive extra-inning affair…Ryan Noda, who would go on to score the night’s decisive tally, drew a lead-off walk against JAMES KARINCHAK, who took his second loss, and advanced to second base on a 4-3 groundout… SHANE BIEBER did not factor into the decision despite fanning 7 across a 6.0-inning quality start (6.0IP, 3H, 3R-ER, 1BB, 7SO, 1WP, 89 pitches)…an earlier lead-off walk by Noda led to a pair of runs for the A’s in the 3rd ahead of Esteury Ruiz’s RBI-double and a sac fly from Jace Peterson…Cleveland answered with a pair of runs in the 4th, as OSCAR GONZALEZ tripled and scored on a groundout ahead of a solo homer by GABRIEL ARIAS (1) off JP Sears (4.2IP,
8H, 3R-ER, 1BB, 5SO, 1HR, 98 pitches)…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ looped an RBI-double in the 5th for a 3-2 lead, his third go-ahead RBI of this young season, and extended his hitting streak to 11 games… Kemp helped Oakland answer in the 6th, collecting a lead-off single and steal of second before later scoring on a Bieber wild pitch to knot the score at 3-3.
TODAY’S SERIES FINALE
The Guards are looking for their second series win of 2023 today at RingCentral Coliseum…Cleveland went 26-15-10 in series over 2022, turning in winning marks at home (12-7-6) and on the road (14-8-4)…they finished the 2022 season on an 8-1 run in series play starting on Sept. 5, with the lone series loss coming in a one-game stint against Chicago-AL on Sept. 15…with a win today, the Guardians would extend their current series win streak to seven straight dating back to Sept. 16, 2022…a win today would mark the first time the Guards open a season with two series wins since 2020…the last time Cleveland won two road series to start a season was 2002.
Cleveland controlled the season series against Oakland in 2022, going 6-1 and winning both series against the Athletics…the lone loss (10-4) came at home on June 11…the Guardians lead the all-time matchup between the two clubs, 1,044-924.
STEVEN’S STANDARD
After going 2-for-4 in last night’s contest, Bay Area native STEVEN KWAN has now hit safely in all 7 career games he has played against the Athletics…he has 4 games with multiple hits and is 12-for-32 (.400) with 6 runs scored…he also has base knocks in all 4 career games he has played at RingCentral Coliseum (.389, 7-for-18)…Kwan became the first Cleveland leadoff batter to start a season with 7+ RBI in the first five games of a season since Kenny Lofton in 1998.
Kwan maintains his MLB lead in pitches faced (127) through six games, ranking ahead of CHC’s Ian Happ (116)…he is currently T4th in the AL with MIN’s Joey Gallo at 7 RBI, highlighted by a 5-RBI performance on March 31 at Seattle…the outfielder is the only player with 6-or-more RBI with no home runs…with 3 more multi-hit efforts thru 7 games already this season, Kwan’s 35 multi-hit games as a leadoff hitter since the start of 2022 are 8th-most in MLB and 5th in the AL…since 2022, he also ranks T4th in MLB and T3rd in the AL for most 3+ hit games.
WHY WAS SIX AFRAID OF SEVEN? BECAUSE 7-8-9!
One of the keys for success in Cleveland’s first six games has been the production from the 7-8-9 spots in the batting order.
In the 7 spot, ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ leads MLB 7-hitters in hits (6) and runs (5)…as a team, Cleveland’s 7-hitters rank 1st in MLB in runs (6) and T1st in hits (8).
In the 8 spot, MIKE ZUNINO ranks T2nd among MLB 8-hitters in runs (4) and doubles (2), and also ranks T3rd in hits (4)…as a team, the Guards 8-hitters rank 2nd in runs (7) and T5th in MLB in hits (6).
In the 9 spot, MYLES STRAW ranks 1st among MLB 9-hitters in walks (5), T1st in runs (4), and T2nd in hits (5)…as a team, the Guards 9-hitters rank 1st in walks (5) and 2nd in runs (4).
Among MLB teams’ 7-8-9 hitters, the Guardians have the 2ndmost hits (19) in MLB (STL, 21) and rank 1st in the AL…their 11 walks are tied for most in MLB (LAD) and rank 1st in the AL…the Guardians 5 XBHs also rank T6th in MLB and T3rd in the AL.
LEADING THE WAY
AMED ROSARIO (28), STEVEN KWAN (26), and JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (26) rank 1st and T2nd in MLB in at-bats thanks to two extra-innings contests…Ramírez has 3 go-ahead RBI which ranks T1st with five others in MLB and 3 doubles (T4th in MLB and AL)… ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ ranks T3rd in MLB (T2nd in AL) in runs (6)… JOSH BELL’s 6 walks rank T4th in MLB and T1st in the AL… MYLES STRAW’s 4 SB rank T1st in both MLB and the AL.
As a team, Cleveland ranks 2nd MLB with 55 hits, T2nd in triples (2) and go-ahead RBI (7), 3rd in stolen bases (8), 4th in singles (38), and 5th in walks (25).
TODAY’S STARTER 70 HUNTER GADDIS RHP
GADDIS’ MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2022 0-2 18.41 2 2 7.1 15 15 15 3 5
Career 0-2 18.41 2 2 7.1 15 15 15 3 5
GADDIS’ MINOR LEAGUE CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2022 8-6 4.01 24 23 121.1 90 57 54 41 158
Career 13-20 3.90 57 53 251.2 197 138 109 76 338
LAST START
Gaddis got the nod in Cleveland’s second game of the season on March 31 at Seattle…he fell one out shy of completing 4.0 frames and did not factor into the Guardians 9-4 victory (3.2IP, 5H, 4R/ER, 1BB, 4SO)…Gaddis gave up an RBI-single to Kolten Wong in the bottom of the 1st, then gave up a 2-run double to Cal Raleigh in the bottom of the 3rd…he was he was pulled in the bottom of the 4th with a runner on first and charged with the run after the runner scored on an RBI-double from Julio Rodríguez.
2022 RECAP
Gaddis became the 13th Clevelander of the 2022 season to make his MLB debut for the Guardians on Aug. 5 vs. Houston at Progressive Field (3.1IP, 7H, 8R/ER, 2BB, 2SO, 2HR, 79 pitches)… after retiring the first three batters of his Major League career, he ran into trouble…a Trey Mancini solo shot in the 2nd, an RBI-single by Yordan Alvarez & grand slam from Mancini in the 3rd, and a Jose Altuve RBI-double in the 4th put Cleveland in an 8-1 deficit.
Gaddis made a second spot-start with the Guardians on Sept. 15 vs. Chicago-AL at Progressive Field (4.0IP, 8H, 7R/ER, 1BB, 3SO, 5HR, 92 pitches)…after beginning with a 1-2-3 inning for the second straight start, the White Sox broke the game open via the long ball…Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn tallied back-toback home runs in the 2nd, Yoan Moncada went deep in the 3rd, Yasmani Grandal went yard in the 4th, and Elvis Andrus hit one over the wall in the 5th…the five home runs allowed were the most allowed by a Cleveland pitcher since April 18, 1969 (Luis Tiant).
CAREER SNAPSHOT
2022: Split Minor League season between AA Akron and AAA Columbus, going a combined 8-6 with 4.01 ERA in 24 games/23 starts (121.1IP, 90H, 54ER, 41BB, 158SO)…was promoted from AA Akron to AAA Columbus on July 23 and made ML debut just two weeks later…went 3-1 with 2.42 ERA in 4 Sept. starts at AAA Columbus (22.1IP, 12H, 6ER, 3BB, 29SO)…tallied 6th-lowest ERA, 3rd-lowest batting average, and T8th-most SO in Sept. International League play…went 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA (4ER/26.0IP), 5 walks and 37 strikeouts from 4/26-5/19 with AA Akron…led AA Eastern League in strikeouts in that stretch…struck out a careerhigh 11 batters in 6.0 shutout innings on 5/19 vs. Erie.
2021: Spent the entire season with High-A Lake County, making 19 starts; his 4.16 ERA was 4th-lowest in the High-A Central, while his 127SO were tied for the league lead.
2020: Did not pitch due to canceled Minor League season.
2019: Went 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA (6ER/17.1IP) in 7 games/5 starts in the Arizona Complex League, before posting a 2.30 ERA (4ER/15.2IP) over 6 outings w/ Low-A Mahoning Valley
OAKLAND ATHLETIC NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Snapped their three-game losing streak with the first walkoff win of the season last night…have split the first two games of this series after losing two of three to the Angels to start the season…have lost the first two series of the season just once over the previous 11 years (2021)…this is the A’s 56th season in Oakland where the A’s have won 17 American League West titles, four AL Wild Cards, six AL pennants and four World Championships…only the Atlanta Braves (22), New York Yankees (20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (20) have more division titles than the A’s…since the A’s moved to Oakland in 1968, only the Yankees (11), Cardinals (8) and Dodgers (8) have more league championships and only the Yankees have more world championships (7)…have a 4495-4182 (.518) record over the previous 55 seasons in Oakland…only four teams have won more games over that span (New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston, St. Louis)…this is the Athletics franchise 123rd season in the American League…since 1901, the A’s have 17 AL West titles plus 15 AL pennants and nine World Championships…only the Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11) have won more World Championships…the A’s are 9210-9654 (.488) in their previous 122 seasons…that includes a 3886- 4248 record from 1901-54 in Philadelphia and 829-1224 from 1955-67 in Kansas City.
OFFENSE: The A’s have scored 15 runs on 20 hits in the first two games of this series with the Guardians after totaling three runs on 16 hits in the three-game series against the Angels to start the season…are tied for the fifth in the majors in fewest home runs (4) and most grounded into double plays (6) and have the sixth lowest batting average (.218) and OPS (.639).
PITCHING: The A’s pitching staff has the fourth highest ERA in the majors (6.07)…has issued five wild pitches, which is second most to the Guardians (5)…led the majors with 36 wild pitches this spring…A’s starting pitchers have a 9.13 ERA, which is second highest in the majors to the Red Sox (10.18)…the bullpen has a 3.09 ERA, which is eighth lowest.
DEFENSIVE DOINGS: The A’s have committed an error in each of the first five games, which is the longest season-opening streak by an A’s team over the last 47 years…in Oakland history, the only longer such streaks are a 10-game streak in 1976 and a six-game streak in 1970…have six errors for the season, which is tied with the Orioles for the most in the majors.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s are 2-3 on this season-opening six-game homestand against Los Angeles-AL (1-2) and Cleveland (1-1)…went 29-51 (.362)
at home last year, which set an Oakland record for lowest home winning percentage…had the second worst home record in the majors to Washington (26-55, .321)…leave following the game tomorrow for the first road trip of the season, a seven-game trip to Tampa Bay (three games) and Baltimore (four games) that begins on Friday…went 31-51 (.378) on the road in 2022, which was the third worst road record in the American League.
THIS AND THAT: The A’s won 4-3 last night and both of their victories have been one-run decisions…are 2-1 in one-run games and the three games are tied with the Diamondbacks, Guardians and Red Sox for the most in the majors…are also 2-1 in games decided in the last at bat…the A’s average time of game is 2 hours and 41 minutes…the last time the A’s averaged under 2:50 per game was in 2010 (2:43).
DURING THE SPRING: The A’s went 11-17-3 (.355) this spring, which was the worst record in the Cactus League and third worst in the majors ahead of Pittsburgh (9-18-4) and Miami (7-16-4)…it was the fifth lowest spring winning percentage in Oakland history…went 5-10-3 last spring and have back-to-back losing springs for the first time since 2016-18 when they had three straight…the A’s led majors in on-base percentage (.367), walks (153), hit by pitches (26) and lowest strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.83)…the walks were second most by an A’s team during the spring since 1990, the earliest year spring stats are available (had 154 in 1997)…the hit by pitches were the most since 2009 (28) and the on-base percentage was the best since 2013 (.367)… tied for second in the CL in triples (9), ranked fourth in OPS (.783) and plate appearances per strikeout (4.45) and tied for fourth in runs (171) and doubles (64)…had the most grounded into double plays in the majors (32)…had the second fewest home runs in the CL (27) and the fifth lowest slugging percentage (.416)…the pitching staff had the highest ERA (6.35), opponents OPS (.849) and on-base percentage (.385) in the majors, the third highest batting average (.283) and fifth highest slugging percentage (.465)…the ERA was the highest by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 6.22 in 1999)…also led the majors in runs (209), walks (171) and wild pitches (36)…the walks are the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990…tied for the second most home runs allowed in the CL (40)…were one of two teams in the majors without a balk (Cardinals)…the A’s defense had the fourth fewest errors in the CL (23) and tied for fifth in outfield assists (4)…had the most passed balls (7).
THE RULE CHANGES: The A’s stole 40 bases this spring, which was third most in the Cactus League…it was the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 39 with the 1995 replacement players)…tied for the fourth fewest caught stealings (6) and had the fifth best stolen base percentage (87.0)…the A’s average time of game was 2:46, compared to 3:07 from last spring…however, had the highest average time of game in the majors (Phillies, 2:43)…league-wide, the average time of game was 2:35 compared to 3:01 last spring.
ROSTER NOTES: The A’s Opening Day roster featured seven players who returned from last years Opening Day roster (Acevedo, Brown, Jackson, Jiménez, Kemp, Moll, Oller), which matched the fewest returning players by an A’s team since Opening Day rosters are first available in 1992 (also 2012)… seven were signed as free agents (Aguilar, Díaz, Familia, Fujinami, May, Perez, Peterson), which are the most free agents on an A’s Opening Day roster since 1995 when they had eight…had two players in the Opening Day starting lineup that also started the opener last year, which were the fewest by an A’s team since 2015 when they also had two…of the 26 players on the A’s Opening Day roster, only four played for Oakland in at least each of the previous three seasons: Ramón Laureano (2018-22), Seth Brown (2019-22), James Kaprielian (2020-22) and Tony Kemp (2020-22)…only Kemp, who has been on each of the A’s last four Opening Day rosters, has a streak of more than two consecutive Opening Day rosters with the A’s…Seth Brown, who was drafted on June 10, 2015 has the longest tenure in the A’s organization…18 of the 26 players were acquired by Oakland since the conclusion of the 2021 season (all but Acevedo, Allen, Brown, Jackson, Kaprielian, Kemp, Laureano, Moll)…had six rookies on the Opening Day roster (Capel, Fujinami, Muller, Noda, Ruiz, Waldichuk)…five players had six or more years of service: Familia (10 years, 8 days), May (8 years, 12 days), Peterson (6 years, 142 days), Díaz (6 years, 100 days) and Aguilar (6 years, 82 days)…the average age on the A’s Opening Day roster was 28.50 years, which is the A’s youngest since 2015 (27.92)…Esteury Ruiz, who was 24 years and 43 days, is the youngest… Trevor May was the oldest at 33 years and 188 days and he is the youngest oldest player on an A’s Opening Day roster since Mark Ellis in 2010 (32 years, 303 days).
THE INJURED LIST: The A’s begin the season with five players (Blackburn, Piña, Rucinski, Snead, Tarnok) on the injured list after starting the season with three last year…used the IL 31 times last year, which broke the Oakland record of 27 set in 2016 and matched in 2021…however, used the IL nine times for Covid in 2022 and three times in 2021.
A’S VS. GUARDIANS
• The A’s snapped a six-game home losing streak against the Guardians last night, which matched the longest home losing streak against Cleveland in Oakland history (6, June 3, 1994-July 27, 1995).
• Lost the season series last year for the first time since 2016.
• Went 1-6, which was their worst record against Cleveland since going 0-7 in 1995.
Year Home Road Totals
2023 1-1 0-0 1-1
2022 0-3 1-3 1-6
Oakland History: 289-251
at the Coliseum: 152-112
at Progressive Field: 52-70
All-Time: 924-1044
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Seth Brown has six home runs in 15 career games against Cleveland, which are his most against any team…Ramón Laureano made his fourth career Opening Day start last Thursday, his first in right field (2019-21 in center), and went 0-for-4…has hit safely in each of his four games since then (5- for-14, .357)…Trevor May picked up his second win of the season last night and is one of three two-game winners in the majors…has three decisions and is the third pitcher in Athletics history with three decisions over the first five games (Scott Perry, 1920; Orlando Peña, 1964)…Esteury Ruiz is the only player to reach base safely in each of the A’s first five games.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: Kyle Muller (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his second start of the season and the 13th of his career…was the A’s Opening Day starter and became the first rookie pitcher in Oakland history to make a start on Opening Day…prior to that, the last Athletic rookie to start an opener was Eddie Smith on April 19, 1937 for the Philadelphia A’s…Muller had just 11 career starts entering the opener and the only Opening Day starting pitchers in Oakland history with fewer career starts entering the game are Sonny Gray (2014), Carlos Reyes (1996) and Vida Blue (1971), who all had 10 career starts…at the age of 25 years and 174 days, Muller was the youngest Opening Day starting pitcher for the A’s since Sonny Gray in 2015 (25 years, 150 days)…was the A’s third different Opening Day starting pitcher in the last three years (Montas, Bassitt) and the fifth in the last six (Fiers, Graveman)…begins his third season in the majors and is on his first Opening Day roster…was acquired from Atlanta in the three-team, nine-player trade on Dec. 12, 2022 that sent Sean Murphy to the Braves.
LAST START: He had a no decision in the A’s 2-1 win over Los Angeles (AL) on Opening Day, last Thursday in Oakland…retired each of the first seven batters and blanked the Angels on two hits over the first four innings…allowed his only run in five innings of work when Urshela singled, advanced to second on a Kemp error and third on a wild pitch before scoring on an O’Hoppe single…the A’s scored twice in the eighth for the win.
2022 RECAP: Spent most of the season with Triple-A Gwinnett where he was named to the International League Postseason All-Star team after going 6-8 with a 3.41 ERA and .694 OPS in 23 starts… also went 1-1 with an 8.03 ERA and .782 opponents OPS in three starts over three stints with Atlanta.
WITH ATLANTA: Allowed a .260 opponents batting average…right-handed hitters batted .295 (13-for-44) and left-handers were 0-for-6 with three walks…opponents hit .143 with runners in scoring position and he has allowed a .167 (8-for-48) average with RISP in his career.
CAREER: Was selected in the second round of the 2016 draft by Atlanta and made his Major League debut with the Braves in 2021…went 3-5 with a 5.14 ERA in 12 games, including 11 starts, over two seasons, before being traded to the A’s in a three-team, nine-player deal on Dec. 12, 2022…the Braves traded him, Manny Piña, Freddy Tarnok and minor leaguer Royber Salinas to Oakland, Milwaukee traded Esteury Ruiz to Oakland, Oakland traded Sean Murphy to Atlanta and Joel Payamps to Milwaukee and Atlanta sent William Contreras and minor leaguer Justin Yeager to Milwaukee…Muller compiled a 31-22 record and a 3.18 ERA in 108 games, including 107 starts, in six seasons in the Atlanta farm system…struck out 588 batters in 541.0 innings, an average of 9.78 per nine innings…was named to the International League Postseason All-Star team in 2022…was rated as the Braves No. 6 prospect by MiLB.com following the 2020 season, No. 5 after 2021 and No. 1 after 2022…was listed as the A’s No. 5 by MiLB.com following the trade…was rated as the Braves No. 1 prospect by Baseball America following the 2022 season and the A’s No. 2 prospect by the magazine following the trade…pitched for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League in 2018 and was named to the AFL Rising Stars Game.
