CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS GRIND OUT WIN IN EXTRAS
The Guardians won their first extra-inning contest of 2023 on Sunday afternoon at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, grinding out a 6-5 victory over the Mariners to open the season with a four-game series win…Cleveland (3-1) sits in sole possession of 2nd place, one half-game behind Minnesota (3-0) in the AL Central standings. » After Seattle got the early upperhand following a solo homer from Julio Rodriguez off CAL QUANTRILL (4.2IP, 8H, 5R-4ER, 2BB, 3SO, 1HR, 2WP, 89 pitches) in the 1st inning, Mariners alumnus MIKE ZUNINO belted his first home run as a member of the Guardians, a 2nd-inning 3-run shot off southpaw Marco Gonzalez (5.0IP, 6H, 4R-ER, 2BB, 1SO, 1HR, 69 pitches) to give Cleveland a 3-1 lift…the advantage would be short-lived, as the M’s mounted their own 3-run rally against Quantrill in the 3rd to grab a 4-3 edge… the two clubs traded single runs in the 5th before Zunino (3-for3, 2 2B, HR, 3RBI, 2R), who picked up 3 extra-base hits in the contest, doubled and gave way to pinch-runner WILL BRENNAN, who came around to score on STEVEN KWAN’s game-tying RBI single…with Kwan at second base to start the 10th, Cleveland’s decisive run came after a pair of walks to JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (IBB) and JOSH BELL loaded the bases and set the stage for a failed inning-ending 1-2-3 double play that allowed Ramírez to score on a throwing error from home to first base.
26-year-old lefty TIM HERRIN made his MLB debut in relief of Quantrill and struck out each of the four batters he faced, as five Guardians relievers combined to blank the Mariners for 5.1 frames and extend the bullpen’s scoreless streak to 12.2 innings.
LEADING THE LAND
JOSH BELL ranks T1st in the AL (T2nd in MLB) with 6 walks… Bell became the 4th Cleveland hitter since 2000 to start a season with six walks in the first four games in a season since Carlos Santana (July 24-28, 2020)…ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ ranks T2nd in both the AL and MLB with 5 runs scored…STEVEN KWAN ranks T3rd in the AL (T6th in MLB) with 6 RBI.
As a team, the Guardians have 5 stolen bases, T3rd-most in both the AL and MLB…ranked 3rd in the Majors with 119 steals in 2022…Cleveland is also one of two teams with two bunt hits (SF) and one of four teams with five infield hits (CWS, SF, STL)…their 16 walks are 2nd-most in the AL, 4th-most in MLB.
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE
After four games played, STEVEN KWAN leads the majors with 90 pitches seen, ahead of Chicago-AL’s Luis Robert at 86…across 17 at-bats, Kwan ranks 6th in the AL and 8th in MLB with 4.74 pitches per plate appearance…JOSH BELL (T6th, 72) and JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (T17th, 66) rank among the AL’s top 25 in pitches seen.
Kwan finished 18th among MLB hitters in pitches seen in 2022 (2,643), joining teammate JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (13th, 2,742) as the two Guardians among MLB’s top 25 in pitches faced…he finished 4th in the AL (15th in MLB) with 4.14 pitches per PA in 2022.
HISTORY FROM HERRIN
On Sunday, TIM HERRIN (1.1IP, 4SO) became the first pitcher in baseball’s Modern Era (since 1900) to face 4+ batters in an MLB debut and retire each one by way of a strikeout…the last pitcher to strike out their first 4+ career batters faced was JoJo Romero (PHI, Aug. 21-30, 2020)…Brandon Crumpton (PIT, June 15, 2013) was the last to do so in a single game (Elias).
BRILLIANT BULLPEN
Through four games played, Cleveland’s bullpen ranks 1st in the AL (T1st in MLB) with 22 SO, 4th in the AL (6th in MLB) with 14.2 IP, and 4th in the AL (7th in MLB) with a 1.84 ERA…the lone R/ ER allowed by the bullpen came from a Ty France three-run home run off JAMES KARINCHAK in the 8th inning of Thursday’s 3-0 Opening Day defeat at Seattle…both TREVOR STEPHAN (1SV, 3.0IP, 4SO) and ENYEL DE LOS SANTOS (2.2IP, 1BB, 3SO) appeared in three of four games in the opening series…5 of 7 Cleveland relievers struck out three-or-more Seattle hitters.
CATCHER IN THE CLUTCH
After his 3-XBH performance on Sunday, MIKE ZUNINO now ranks 6th in MLB in slugging percentage (1.000, T4th in the AL) and OPS (1.545, 4th in the AL)…Zunino’s home run on Sunday came with two outs, a situation where he ranks as one of MLB’s most powerful catchers since 2020.
MOST 2-OUT HRS BY MLB CATCHERS SINCE 2020
PLAYER HRs
MIKE ZUNINO 19
Sean Murphy 15
Gary Sanchez 14
Will Smith 14
GUARDS OUT OF THE GATE
With an opening series victory over Seattle, Cleveland won its first 4-game opening series since winning 3 of 4 in 1931 (April 14- 18, vs. CWS)…the Guards won their first 4-game series against the Mariners since May 28-31, 2015…Cleveland won its first series against SEA since June 11-13, 2021.
EXTRAS EXTRAS READ ALL ABOUT IT!
In 2022, the Mariners (11-5, .688) and Guardians (13-6, .684) were the AL’s two best teams in extra-inning win percentage… Cleveland tallied the most extra-inning wins in MLB and ranked 4th in MLB in extra-inning win percentage last year…the Guards beat Seattle yesterday in MLB’s first extra-inning contest of 2023.
TONIGHT’S STARTER 34 ZACH PLESAC RHP
TONIGHT’S START
Makes his regular season debut this evening in the series opener of this 3-game set at Oakland…2023 marks his 5th campaign in the Major Leagues and Cleveland’s starting rotation…finished 2022 with a 2-7 record and 4.83 ERA (39ER/72.2IP) on the road.
Will look to bounce back from a 2022 season that saw him go 3-12 with a 4.31 ERA (63ER/131.2IP) across 24 starts…his 12 losses were a career-high.
CAREER VS. OAKLAND
This will be his 3rd career start against Oakland…has a 1-0 record with a 3.75 ERA (5ER/12.0IP) in his prior 2 starts…faced the A’s once in 2022, allowing 4R/3ER on 8 hits with 2 strikeouts over 6.0 innings, but did not factor into the decision.
His only start at RingCentral Coliseum came on July 18, 2021 in a 4-2 win…the right-hander earned the win in a quality start, allowing 2R/ER on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts and one walk in 6.0 innings.
Has struggled against the AL West over the course of his 4-year career, owning a 1-3 record with an 8.06 ERA (23ER/25.2IP), his highest against any division, and .306 opposing batting average across 5 starts.
RUN SUPPORT
Plesac had a 12 start winless streak from June 11-August 16 during the 2022 season, going 0-7 with a 4.18 ERA (30ER)/64.2IP) in that span…in CLE history, only two pitchers have had a better ERA over a 12-start winless spell: Luis Tiant (3.24, July 18-Sept. 7, 1969) and Guy Morton (4.06, July 13-Sept. 20, 1914)…his 2.78 average runs of support was 4th-lowest in MLB during that period.
A lack of run support plagued him throughout the 2022 season, as the righty received a total of 42 runs of support across 24 starts, 2nd-lowest in MLB (min 130.0IP) behind KC’s Brad Keller (40)…his 2.87 run support average was 3rd-lowest in MLB (min 130.0IP)… since 2000, among Guardians to throw 130.0 innings, Carlos Carrasco is the only pitcher to receive less runs of support and have a lower RSA in a single season (2014, 41 runs, 2.75 RSA).
2022 LOWEST RUN SUPPORT AVERAGE IN MLB, MIN. 130.0IP
Player (Team) RSA
Brad Keller (KC) 2.58
Patrick Corbin (WAS) 2.83
Zach Plesac (CLE) 2.87
Zach Davies (ARI) 3.08
QUANTITY OF QUALITY
Despite a setting a career-high in losses, Zach made a career-high 11 quality starts in 2022 and rattled off 7 consecutive quality starts from May 30-July 4, going 1-2 with a 2.14 ERA (10ER/36.0IP) in that span; marks the 6th-lowest qualified ERA among A.L. hurlers over that stretch…signifies the longest such streak by a Cleveland starter since TRISTON McKENZIE pieced together another 7-start run from Aug. 5-Sept. 14, 2021..no Clevelander has turned the trick in 8 consecutive starts since SHANE BIEBER’s 10-start streak from July 24-Sept. 9, 2019.
Cleveland’s starting rotation had 75 quality starts in 2022, ranking T4th with Philadelphia behind Seattle (79), San Diego (84) and Houston (94).
WORKING OUT THE KINKS
Over his career, Plesac’s highest ERA by month has come in April, posting a 4.91 mark (26ER/47.2IP) across 9 starts in the season’s opening month…he improved on those numbers in 2022, going 1-2 with a 3.80 ERA in 4 April starts.
PLESAC BY MONTH, CAREER (since 2019)
Month Record GS ERA IP ER
April 2-5 9 4.91 47.2 26
May 3-2 11 3.97 65.2 29
June 4-4 11 3.09 67.0 23
July 5-4 15 4.04 78.0 35
August 6-6 17 4.30 96.1 46
September 5-4 14 4.19 86.0 40
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Lost two of three to the Angels to start the season, which marks the 12th time in the last 13 years the A’s have lost the first series of the season…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.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s are 1-2 on this season-opening six-game homestand against Los Angeles-AL (1-2) and Cleveland (three games)…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)…begin their first road trip on Friday, a seven-game trip to Tampa Bay (three games) and Baltimore (four games)…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 were shutout yesterday after scoring one run on Saturday and two in the opener on Thursday…the three runs scored are tied with the Tigers for the fewest in the majors…they are the second fewest in Athletics history over the first three games of the season to the 1914 American League Champion Philadelphia A’s, who scored two runs…have 16 hits, which is third fewest in the majors and the fewest by an A’s team over the first three games since 1979 (also 16)…the A’s played their longest game of the season yesterday, clocking in at 2 hours and 32 minutes…over the last 48 years, the only time the A’s have played each of their first three games in 2:32 or fewer was in 2007…have committed four errors over the first three games, which is tied with the Mariners for second most in the majors (5).
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.
TENURE: 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…Laureano is on his fourth Opening Day roster with Oakland (2019-21, 23)…Seth Brown, who was drafted on June 10, 2015 has the longest tenure in the A’s organization…he is followed by Nick Allen, who was the A’s third round pick in 2017, and James Kaprielian, who was acquired from the Yankees on July 31, 2017…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).
ROOKIE AND VETERANS: The A’s 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 YOUNG AND THE OLD: 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…he is followed by Nick Allen (24 years, 173 days) and Ken Waldichuk (25 years, 81 days)…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)…he is followed by Jeurys Familia (33 years, 171 days) and Jace Peterson (32 years, 325 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 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.
• Have a five-game losing streak in Oakland, which is one short of the A’s longest home losing streak against Cleveland (6, June 3, 1994- July 27, 1995).
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Jesús Aguilar and Esteury Ruiz are the only Athletics to reach base safely in each of the A’s first three games…Seth Brown has homered in each of his last three games against the Guardians and has five career home runs against Cleveland, which match his most against any team (Houston, Texas)…Shea Langeliers has started each of the A’s first three games at catcher and is scheduled to start behind the plate tonight…the last Athletic to start each of the A’s first four games at catcher is Kurt Suzuki, who started each of the A’s first five games behind the plate in 2012.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: James Kaprielian
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his first start of the season…begins his fourth season in the majors and is on his first Opening Day roster…began the 2022 season on the IL and made one start at Triple-A Las Vegas in 2021 before joining the A’s.
SEVEN INNINGS OR FEWER: Tossed seven innings or fewer in each of his 26 starts in 2022 and in all 47 of his career starts…his streak of 47 consecutive starts of seven innings or fewer matches the longest in Athletics history (Montas, Sept. 25, 2019-April 18, 2022).
SPRING TRAINING RECAP: Went 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA and .690 opponents OPS in four Spring Training starts…did not make his first start until March 12 after recovering from off-season surgery…allowed a .250 opponents batting average but walked nine batters in 16.0 innings…struck out 19 and surrendered just one home run.
KAPRIELIAN’S 2023 SPRING TRAINING STARTS
Date Opponent Start/Rel Score Dec ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR
Mar. 12 San Diego S 8-6 – 0.00 1.2 1 0 0 3 5 0
Mar. 17 San Francisco S 7-2 W 1.59 4.0 5 1 1 0 4 0
Mar. 22 Chicago (NL) S 2-4 L 2.53 5.0 4 2 2 4 4 1
Mar. 27 at San Francisco S 12-6 W 2.81 5.1 5 2 2 2 6 0
Totals (4 games, 4 starts) 2-1 2.81 16.0 15 5 5 9 19 1
KAPRIELIAN’S CAREER STARTS VS. CLEVELAND
Career: 0-1, 7.71 ERA in two career appearances, both starts
Date Site Score Dec ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR #PIT
May 1, 2022 May 1, 2022 Coliseum Coliseum 3-7 L 2.0 3 4 4 4 2 0 57
June 9, 2022 June 9, 2022 Progressive Field Progressive Field 4-8 – 5.0 5 2 2 0 3 2 75
Career Totals (2 games, 2 starts) Career Totals (2 games, 2 starts) 0-1 7.71 7.0 8 6 6 4 5 2
Coliseum (1 game, 1 start) Coliseum (1 game, 1 start) 0-1 18.00 2.0 3 4 4 4 2 0
Progressive Field (1 game, 1 start) Progressive Field (1 game, 1 start) 0-0 3.60 5.0 5 2 2 0 3 2
2022 Totals (2 games, 2 starts) 2022 Totals (2 games, 2 starts) 0-1 7.71 7.0 8 6 6 4 5 2
• Tossed 2.0 innings on May 1 last year, which is the shortest start of his career.
KAPRIELIAN’S CAREER MATCHUPS VS. CLEVELAND
PLAYER BA OBP SLG OPS AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SH SF HB DP
Gallagher .000 .000 .000 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gimenez .333 .333 .333 .667 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Gonzalez 1.000 1.000 1.500 2.500 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kwan .250 .250 .250 .500 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naylor .333 .500 1.333 1.833 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Ramirez .500 .750 2.000 2.750 2 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
Straw .200 .200 .200 .400 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Viloria .000 .000 .000 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022 RECAP: Was 5-9 with a 4.23 ERA and .735 opponents OPS in 26 starts after going 8-5 with a 4.07 ERA and .732 OPS in 24 games, including 21 starts, as a rookie in 2021…struck out 98 batters in 134.0 innings (6.58 per nine innings) after fanning 123 in 119.1 innings in 2021 (9.28 per nine innings)… allowed a .239 opponents batting average but walked a team-leading 59 batters for a .321 on-base percentage…his walks were the most by an A’s pitcher since Sonny Gray also had 59 in 2015…went 0-5 with a 5.88 ERA and .825 opponents OPS over his first 11 starts from May 1-June 26, 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA and .612 OPS over his next six starts from July 1 to Aug. 3, 0-4 with a 6.46 ERA and .874 OPS over his next five starts from Aug. 9 to 31 and 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and .544 OPS over his final four starts beginning Sept. 15.
OPPONENTS BATTING: His opponents batting average broke down to .237 (63-for-266) with a .696 opponents OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .241 (58-for-241) with a .777 OPS against right-handers…opponents hit .243 with the bases empty, .232 with runners on…11 of the 16 home runs he allowed were solo shots…his career splits are .232 with 25 home runs with the bases empty, .243 with 12 home runs with runners on… allowed 13 home runs in 69.0 innings and 14 starts before the All-Star Break, three home runs in 65.0 innings and 12 starts after the break…allowed a .193 average to the opponents number five hitter and has a .140 career average in that split.
EARLY AND LATE: Had a .184 opponents batting average and .579 OPS the first time through the order, .263 with a .766 OPS the second time and .302 with a 1.004 OPS after that…now has a .186 average and .575 OPS in his career the first time through the order, .269 with an .843 OPS after that… compiled a 2.77 ERA over the first two innings of a game, a 5.16 ERA from the third inning on…now has a 2.39 career ERA in the first and second innings, a 5.25 ERA after that.
SPLITS: Had a 4-4 record with a 3.67 ERA and .712 opponents OPS in 15 starts on the road, compared to 1-5 with a 5.09 ERA and .770 OPS in 11 starts at home…was 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 14 starts against American League West competition, 1-6 with a 5.46 ERA in 12 starts against all other teams…is now 8-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 29 career appearances against divisional foes, 5-9 with a 4.96 ERA in 23 games against everyone else…has seven of his 13 career wins against the Mariners (4) and Angels (3)…was 3-2 with a 4.47 ERA in 11 starts on four days rest, 2-6 with a 3.69 ERA in 14 starts on five days rest or more.
THIS AND THAT: The A’s were 13-13 in his starting assignments, which included an 8-4 record in his 12 no decisions…left with the lead in five of his starts only to have the bullpen blow the save…now has 20 career no decisions as a starter and has left with the lead and was the pitcher of record in nine of those no decisions…the A’s are 24-23 (.511) in his 47 career starts.
