MIAMI MARLINS NOTES:
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CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
DOUBLING IT UP AT HOME
Today marks the Guardians 2nd doubleheader of the 2023 season and the 1st at Progressive Field…marks the 2nd doubleheader of the week for Cleveland, playing 2 games at Detroit on April 18, dropping both…after losing the first matchup 4-3, the Guards lost the second game 1-0, with the contest lasting 1 hour and 50 minutes…it was Cleveland’s shortest game since June 2, 2010 against Detroit, when Armando Galarraga came one out away from twirling a perfect game (1 hour, 44 minutes)…the last time Cleveland was swept in a doubleheader also took place in Detroit, falling 4-1 and 5-3 on July 4, 2022.
2022 saw Cleveland lead MLB with 11 doubleheaders played, tallying their most in a single season since 1984 (12DH)…CLE finished with an 11-11 record in 2022 doubleheader contests, including losses in 8 of their last 13 twin bill games (2-0 on April 20 vs. CWS, 1-1 on May 4 vs. SD, 1-1 on May 7 vs. TOR, 1-1 on June 7 vs. TEX, 1-1 on June 28 vs. MIN, 0-2 on July 2 vs. NYY, 0-2 on July 4 at DET, 1-1 on July 12 vs. CWS, 1-1 on July 23 vs. CWS, 1-1 on Aug. 15 vs. DET 2-0 on Sept. 17 vs. MIN)…the Guardians have never played Miami in a doubleheader and are 2-0 vs. the NL East in doubleheaders, winning both contests against the Atlanta Braves on April 20, 2019.
SOUTH BEACH COMING NORTH
The Guardians play host to the Miami Marlins for a 3-game set at Progressive Field…the two clubs last squared off from April 30- May 1, 2019 in Miami, splitting the 2-game series…the Guardians are 11-11 all-time against the Marlins, holding a 6-5 record at Progressive Field and a 5-6 record on the road…the two squads first squared off in 2002, when Miami went by the Florida Marlins… Cleveland is an even 3-3 in season series against Miami and split a 4-game season series in 2019.
CUTTING IT CLOSE
After securing a 4-3 victory over Detroit on Wednesday, the Guardians have now gone 6-6 in 12 games this season decided by one run, leading MLB in such games, with Los Angeles-AL and Washington currently T2nd in MLB in one-run games at 8… this is the first time in franchise history that Cleveland has had 12 one-run games in their first 19 contests…the last time a Cleveland team reached 10 one-run games within the first 19 games of a season was 2005 when they became the 6th team in club history to accomplish the feat…the Guardians are also the first team since the 1998 Philadelphia Phillies to have 12 games decided by one run through the team’s first 19 contests, going 6-6 in that span as well.
In 2022, Cleveland went 45-28 in games decided by one run, finishing with the 4th-best winning percentage in MLB…Cleveland owns a .539 winning percentage (214-183) in one-run games during the Terry Francona era (since 2013), ranking 5th in MLB and 2nd in the AL behind New York-AL.
WINNING % IN ONE-RUN GAMES, SINCE 2013
TEAM W-L% RECORD
ATL .548 239-197
MIL .547 229-190
STL .542 239-202
NYY .542 231-195
CLE .539 214-183
7, 8, AND 9 ARE DOIN JUST FINE
Cleveland has seen consistent production this season from their 7-8-9 hitters who rank highly in several categories through 19 games…entering Saturday, the Guards rank 1st in MLB with a .382 on-base percentage and 17 doubles from their bottom three hitters…they also rank 2nd in MLB with a .275 batting average, trailing Tampa Bay (.284)…their 29 walks rank 2nd in MLB/1st in the AL trailing only Los Angeles-NL (33).
From hitters in the seventh spot, ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ ranks 1st in MLB in runs (9), T1st in doubles (3), 3rd in hits (10), 3rd in OBP (.438) and 5th in batting average (.357).
Among batters with 35-or-more at-bats out of the ninth spot in the lineup, MYLES STRAW ranks 1st in MLB in OBP (.413), 2nd in batting average (.270), 2nd in stolen bases (5), 2nd in walks (8), T2nd in runs (7), T3rd in RBI (4) and T3rd in doubles (3).
JOSÉ BEING JOSÉ
JOSÉ RAMÍREZ remains just one double away from tying Charlie Jamieson (296) for the 7th-most doubles in franchise history…he leads MLB this season with 4 intentional walks after tallying the most in baseball last year with 20…his 6 go-ahead RBI rank 1st in MLB this year and his 6 doubles rank T13th in MLB/ T6th in the AL.
After his 194th career home run on Wednesday, Ramírez is only 6 away from tying Travis Hafner (200) for 9th all-time in club history…with 12 more extra-base hits, he will tie Nap Lajoie (535) for 6th all-time in franchise history… Ramírez also needs four more hits to pass Jack Graney and Brook Jacoby (1,178) for 20th in Cleveland history.
GUARDIANS OF THE BASEPATHS
With another steal Wednesday, Cleveland maintains the MLB lead with 26 stolen bases, just one swipe ahead of Baltimore’s 25… this marks just the 11th time in club history and the first time since tallying 27 steals in 1994 that Cleveland has 26+ steals in the first 19 games of the season…the last MLB teams before the Guards to tally 26+ steals through the team’s first 19 games of a season were the 2011 Royals (26) and the 2011 Padres (27).
MYLES STRAW ranks T6th in MLB with 7 stolen bases…the Guardians are the only team in MLB to feature three-or-more players with 5+ SB (Straw, Giménez and Kwan), ahead of New York-AL (2) and Baltimore (2)…Straw has also showcased his speed out of the batter’s box as his 6 infield hits are T1st in MLB with NYM’s Brandon Nimmo and CIN’s TJ Friedl.
ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ’s 18 runs are currently T1st in the AL with TEX’s Marcus Semien…he is the first Cleveland player to have 18 runs through the team’s first 19 contests since Travis Hafner had 24 runs in 2006.
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE
STEVEN KWAN is 2nd in the AL with 377 pitches faced this season, behind BAL’s Adley Rutschman (388)…as a team, Cleveland’s 23.1% swing and miss rate ranks 1st in the AL and 3rd in MLB behind Washington and Arizona, led by Kwan (9.9%, 3rd in MLB, 1st in the AL), JOSÉ RAMÍREZ (15.1%, 14th in MLB, 5th in the AL), and MYLES STRAW (15.4%, 15th in MLB, 6th in the AL)
TODAY’S STARTER – 57 SHANE BIEBER RHP
BACK IN THE LAND
The 2020 Cy Young winner is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season, second at home, in the series/doubleheader opener against the Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon…the 27-year-old right-hander is making his first career start against Miami…he is one of four MLB starters to make four straight quality starts to begin the 2023 season, posting a 2.88 ERA (8ER/25.0IP) with 18 punchouts and 5 walks…is making this appearance on an extended 6 days rest after his last outing on April 16 at Washington…Cleveland has a 76-39 record in Bieber’s 115 career starts.
LAST START
Bieber is coming off of his first-ever start against the Nationals in which the Guardians fell 7-6…he did not factor into the decision after tossing 6.0 innings and allowing 3R/ER on a season-high 9 hits while striking out 4 with a walk…he allowed a run in each of his first three innings, featuring a Jeimer Candelario RBI single, a Lane Thomas double, and a solo shot from Candelario…the 9 hits allowed were his most in a start since June 14, 2022 at Colorado (6.2IP, 9H, 3R/ER, 1BB, 7SO).
THE ACE IN INTERLEAGUE PLAY
Today marks Bieber’s first career start against Miami…in 4 starts against the NL East, he is 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA (12ER/21.2IP) with 21 strikeouts, 3 walks and 5 home runs allowed.
Bieber is 10-3 in 18 interleague starts, owning a 3.76 ERA (44ER/105.1IP) with 125 strikeouts and 21 walks…his .769 winning percentage in interleague play is the best in franchise history ahead of Carlos Carrasco (.667, 10-5), and ranks 3rd in MLB since 2018 behind Robbie Ray (.800) and Gerrit Cole (.857)…in interleague starts since 2018 (min. 18 GS), he has a 5.95 SO/BB ratio (2nd in MLB, behind Max Scherzer’s 6.37), 10 victories (T4th in MLB) and 10.68 strikeouts-per-9-innings (5th in MLB).
HIGH QUALITY
After beginning the season with 4 consecutive quality starts, Bieber has a made quality start in 15 of his last 17 starts, including an 11 start-streak from July 29-September 22, 2022…his 80 career quality starts since his MLB debut in 2018 rank T4th among all MLB pitchers with Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler…he ranks 2nd in both MLB and the AL with 27 quality starts since last year, trailing Houston’s Framber Valdez (29).
MLB QUALITY START RANKINGS, 2022-23
NAME TEAM QS
Framber Valdez HOU 29
Shane Bieber CLE 27
Sandy Alcantara MIA 26
Yu Darvish SD 26
Alek Manoah TOR 26
Since Bieber’s career began in 2018, he is one of three MLB pitchers to win 55-or-more games, strike out 845+ hitters, and possess an ERA of 3.20-or-less…the other two hurlers are New York-AL’s Gerrit Cole and New York-NL’s Max Scherzer.
APRIL’S ACE
Since his AL Cy Young winning season in 2020, Bieber leads all MLB pitchers in innings pitched (90.2), strikeouts (112), batters faced (364), and pitches per game (96.6) in April…he also ranks top 10 in strikeouts-per-9-innings (11.12, 6th), opponent batting average (.201, 8th), and ERA (2.88, 9th) in April contests since 2020…Bieber is 1-0 with 15 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched, with an April career-high 3.79 ERA this month.
THE PITCH, NOT THE MASCOT
Bieber’s slider has been working for him through his first four starts, holding hitters to a .222 average (8-for-36), with 11 of his 18 strikeouts coming by way of the pitch…his slider usage has risen significantly from 11.6% in his 2020 Cy Young winning season to 25.5% in 2021 to 31.8% this season…in 2022, his most effective pitches were his slider and curveball, both of which held hitters to a .191 batting average… in 2022, nearly 85% of sliders thrown (718/849) were to right-handed batters and over 85% of curveballs thrown (439/514) were to lefthanded batters.
