This was maybe my favorite performance from any Guardians player this season. Seeing Travis Bazzana blossom into a star in his rookie season brings me so much joy. After his 4-4 2 HR performance tonight, he now leads all 2B in the MLB in WRC+ and OPS. I don’t know if he’ll get the votes for it, but he absolutely deserves to be the starting 2B for the American League in the All-Star game.
Bazzana deserves an immense amount of praise for his performance tonight, but I don’t want it to overshadow what Joey Cantillo did. This was easily his best start of the season all things considered. He had been struggling mightily as of late and to see him give you 8 efficient innings of one run ball with 9 strikeouts against THAT lineup is absolutely beautiful, and very very much needed. A performance like this is more than just a mark in the win column, this will do wonders for Joey’s confidence moving forward.
Kyle Manzardo and Patrick Bailey also had big nights. Manzardo went 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBIs, while Bailey had his first 3 hit game as a Guardian.
The Guardians will try to win the rubber match tomorrow at 2:10 pm ET. It will be Slade Cecconi vs Kai-Wei Teng.
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