HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
No team release available.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS RALLY, FALL SHORT BY 2 TO ASTROS
Coming off Friday’s wild 14-inning, 10-9 victory over Houston, the Guardians fell to the Astros by a 6-4 margin on Saturday night at Progressive Field…looking to win the club’s fifth consecutive series finale, Cleveland has won or split four consecutive series overall (3 series wins, one split), needing a victory this afternoon to extend that streak to five straight.
For a second straight night, the Astros put up a 3-spot in the 1st inning with the help of a José Abreu home run, as Jose Altuve doubled and scored on Alex Bregman’s RBI-single ahead of a 2-run blast by Abreu off TRISTON McKENZIE, who took the loss in his second outing since returning from a lengthy IL stint (5.0IP, 7H, 5R-ER, 3BB, 5SO, HR, WP, 92 pitches)…McKenzie also issued a lead-off walk in the 4th that gave way to a Jake Myers RBI-double and Mauricio Dubón RBI-single…Cleveland’s offense tallied 3 of the club’s 10 hits in the 1st, but Astros rookie J.P. France (6.2IP, 7H, 3R-ER, 6BB, 6SO, 105 pitches) limited the damage to a sac fly by JOSH NAYLOR…Naylor joined JOSÉ RAMÍREZ with a pair of RBI-singles in the Guards 2-run 7th and then added a second sac fly in the 9th inning, as Cleveland brought the tying run to the plate before coming up short.
Cleveland (30-34) sits in 2nd place in AL Central standings, 2.5 games behind 1st-place Minnesota (33-32) & 2.0 games ahead of 3rd-place Chicago-AL (-4.5G, 29-37)…Guardians have won 5 of 7 and 8 of last 13, though have also dropped 28 of last 49 overall since starting the year 9-6…club is 3-2 entering the finale of this 6-game homestand against Boston (2-1) & Houston (1-1).
BREAKING THE TIE
With a victory today, the Guardians would win their first series against Houston since May 19-21, 2017 when they swept Houston on the road…since then, the Astros have won 19 of the last 30 contests between the two sides…Cleveland is seeking its first home series win against the Astros since taking 2 of 3 from April 25-27, 2017…since then, the Guards have won only 6 of their last 17 home games against Houston…Cleveland holds a 43-39 record all-time against the Astros.
The Guardians are 6-5 in rubber matches this season and 4-3 at home…last season, the Cleveland finished 8-6 in rubber matches with a 4-2 record at Progressive Field…the club has won its last two rubber matches; a 12-8 shootout at Baltimore on May 31 and a 10-3 outburst vs. Boston on June 8, earlier in this homestand… today’s contest will be the 12th rubber match played between the Guardians and Astros, and the 6th rubber match played at Progressive Field between the two sides…Houston holds a slim 6-5 advantage in rubber matches against Cleveland, including winning the last three in 2018, 2019, and 2022…Cleveland’s last rubber match victory against Houston came on April 27, 2017 when they won 4-3 at home.
OFFENSIVE JUGGERNAUTS
Since May 28, Cleveland’s offense leads MLB with 9 double-digit hit games, ahead of Texas’ 8…the club has double-digit hits in 5 straight games, 6 of its last 7, 8 of its last 11 and 9 of its last 13 contests…the last time Cleveland generated 10+ hits in 5 straight games was May 27-31, 2018…since May 28, Cleveland ranks 1st in MLB with 139 hits and 38 doubles, T1st with 50 extra-base hits, 2nd with a .293 average, 3rd with 71 runs and 4th with 68 RBI, 211 total bases and a .347 OBP…the last time Cleveland generated 139+ hits and 50+ extra-base hits within a 13-game spean was July 15-27, 2019 (139H, 56XBH)…since May 28, both Cleveland and Houston have been two of baseball’s most prolific offenses as the two sides rank top 5 in MLB in runs, hits, total bases, RBI, and extra-base hits.
CLEVELAND VS. HOUSTON SINCE MAY 28 (MLB RANK)
TEAM R H TB RBI XBH
CLE 71 (3rd) 139 (1st) 211 (4th) 68 (4th) 50 (T1st) HOU 74 (2nd) 127 (2nd) 229 (1st) 71 (2nd) 50 (T1st)
LOOKING LIKE THE A-TEAM
Since May 29, WILL BRENNAN has measured up as one of MLB’s most consistent hitters…he ranks T1st among all hitters with MLB batting average leader, Luis Arraez, for most multi-hit games (8) since May 29…among all MLB hitters since May 29, he also ranks T2nd with 20 hits, 3rd with a .455 batting average (20-for44), 3rd with a 1.216 OPS, 3rd with a .489 OBP, and T3rd with 6 doubles…has tallied a hit in 10 of his last 11 games, raising his season average from .204 to .274 in that span.
Since May 30, JOSH NAYLOR is riding a career-long 10-game hitting streak, recording five consecutive multi-hit outings and 7 multi-hit outings during the streak…he is the first Guardians hitter with 5 straight multi-hit games STEVEN KWAN did so from September 17-21, 2022…Naylor also had a 5-game multi-hit streak last season from April 16-23…with another multi-hit game today, he would be the first Cleveland hitter to post a 6-game multi-hit streak since Francisco Lindor from April 30-May 4, 2018…with 2 RBI in the 7th-or-later last night, Naylor is tied with St. Louis’ Nolan Gorman for most RBI in the 7th-or-later this season (24)…his 10 games this season with 2+ hits and 2+RBI are tied for most in MLB with Los Angeles-AL’s Shohei Ohtani…during his 10-game hitting streak, Naylor’s .513 batting average, 20 hits, 7 doubles, 16 RBI, .533 OBP, 1.302 OPS, and 7 multi-hit games all rank in the top 5 in MLB.
JOSH NAYLOR MLB RANKS (MIN. 20AB) SINCE MAY 30 AVG H 2B RBI OBP OPS
.513 (1st) 20 (2nd) 7 (1st) 16 (1st) .533 (1st) 1.302 (4th)
THE GUARDIAC KIDS
The Guardians lead MLB with 30 one-run games (13-17 record) and 43 games (20-23 record) decided by 2-or-fewer runs this season…the 30 one-run contests through 64 games are the most by a team since the 1994 Los Angeles Dodgers (18-15, 33 games) and the 43 games decided by 2-or-fewer runs are the most by a team since the 1984 Pittsburgh Pirates (12-32, 44 games) and 1984 Houston Astros (17-26, 43 games)…the 43 contests decided by 2-or-fewer runs through 64 games are tied for most in club history with 1944 (20-23) and 1918 (25-18).
STANDING FOR THE LAND
Last night’s contest between Houston and Cleveland generated an attendance of 35,087 fans, the largest crowd at Progressive Field this season and the largest regular-season crowd in Cleveland since September 22, 2018 vs. Boston (35,095)…at this point in 2022, Cleveland had 486,052 fans attend their first 31 home games, averaging approximately 15,679 fans per contest…in the first 31 home games of the 2023 season, Progressive Field has hosted 620,945 fans, an average of 20,030 fans per contest…from 2022 to 2023, Cleveland has seen 134,893 more fans to this point, resulting in an approximate 28% increase in overall attendance and a 4,351-person increase per game.
TODAY’S STARTER – 57 SHANE BIEBER RHP
BIEBER AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 3-1 2.32 5 5 31.0 26 8 8 13 21
Career 23-16 3.57 56 55 335.1 324 143 133 84 376
BIEBER’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 4-3 3.57 13 13 80.2 81 33 32 22 55
Career 58-29 3.22 126 124 783.2 699 300 280 175 886
TODAY’S START
The 2020 Cy Young winner is scheduled to make his 14th start of the season, sixth at home, in the rubber match of this 3-game set with Houston.
Has 8 total strikeouts over his last 3 starts…just the 2nd time he’s done in his career and first since he had 8 punchouts over 3 outings from September 24, 2021 to April 7, 2022.
Is making this appearance on 4 days’ rest; is 31-13 with a 3.39 ERA (151ER/400.2IP) in 64 career starts on 4 days’ rest.
LAST TIME OUT
He last took the mound on June 6 against the Red Sox to open up the homestand…did not factor into the decision after one run (earned) over 5.2 innings with 2 walks and one walk…allowed exactly one base runner in each of the first 3.0 innings before retiring 6 consecutive batters in the 4th and 5th innings…Masataka Yoshida doubled to open up the 6th frame, he would come around to score on a single from Kiké Hernández, Bieber’s only mark on the day…has not struck out more than 5 batters in 5 straight starts and has only struck out 5-or-more in 2 of his 13 outings.
WILD WILD WEST
This will be his third career start against Houston, holding an 0-1 record with a 3.46 (5ER/13.0IP)…his sole loss against the Astros came at Progressive Field on July 30, 2019, his last start against the club…he allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits over 7.0 innings with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk, but received 0 runs of support as the Guardians were shutout that day…both of his starts against Houston have been quality starts.
He has made 17 career starts against the AL West, owning a 4-6 record with a 2.85 ERA (34ER/107.1IP), tied for his lowest ERA against any division…he also has a 2.85 ERA against the AL Central…his last his outing against an AL West opponent came on April 4 at Oakland, allowing 3 earned runs on 3 hits with 7 punchouts and one walk across 6.0 innings of work…has made a quality start in 12 of his 17 and 5 of his last 6 outings against the division…seeking his first win against the AL West since September 9, 2019 at Los Angeles-AL…has gone 0-3 with a 3.06
ERA (16ER/47.0IP) in 8 outings since.
HIGH QUALITY
After beginning the season with quality starts in 9 of his first 13 outings, Bieber has a made quality start in 20 of his last 26 starts, including an 11 start-streak from July 29-September 22, 2022…he ranks 2nd in both MLB and the AL with 32 quality starts since last year, trailing Houston’s Framber Valdez (36).
FOUR AND LOOKING FOR MORE
Bieber has finished with exactly 4 strikeouts in 8 of his 13 outings this season…he is tied for the most 4-strikeout starts through the first 59 games of a season in MLB history, tying Britt Burns (1982, Chicago-AL), Dutch Ruether (1922, St. Louis-AL), Hal Schumacher (1934, New York Giants) and Johnny Lush (1909, St. Louis-NL)
