The Cleveland Guardians made news even before taking the field for their season opener Thursday at Seattle.
The Guardians announced a seven-year contract extension worth a reported $106.5 million for second baseman Andres Gimenez earlier that day, locking up a 24-year-old who made his first All-Star Game last season and earned a Gold Glove Award.
Gimenez proved his worth Saturday, making a sterling defensive play and hitting a solo home run in the Guardians’ 2-0 victory over the Mariners.
The teams will complete their four-game series Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
“Security is always good to have, but most important to me was what we have here as a team,” Gimenez said of his new deal. “We got that taste last year (of) what it was like to compete for something. The motivation is to keep pushing forward.”
With the Guardians leading 1-0 in the sixth inning Saturday, Seattle’s J.P. Crawford led off and reached on a throwing error by shortstop Amed Rosario.
That brought Julio Rodriguez, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year who had both of the Mariners’ hits to that point, to the plate. Rodriguez hit a chopper up the middle, with Gimenez making a sliding stop behind the bag before jumping to his feet to touch second and fire to first to complete the double play.
In the top of the next inning, Gimenez hit a one-out pitch from Mariners reliever Diego Castillo an estimated 407 feet over the right-field wall to cap the scoring.
After Aaron Civale pitched seven scoreless innings, Guardians manager Terry Francona brought in James Karinchak to work the eighth.
It was a show of support after Karinchak allowed the decisive three-run homer to Ty France in Seattle’s 3-0 victory in the opener.
Karinchak, who seemed unnerved by a pitch-clock violation Thursday, gave up a one-out double to Tommy La Stella. With the crowd counting down the clock on each pitch, Karinchak caught pinch-hitter Cal Raleigh looking at a called third strike before walking J.P. Crawford on four consecutive pitches, bringing up Rodriguez. Karinchak struck him out to end the inning.
“That was big. We kind of knew the way the game was going that we wanted to turn it over to him,” Francona said. “And for him to get through it, he’s going to be huge for us, but getting him to bounce back like that was good.”
Right-hander Cal Quantrill (15-5, 3.38 ERA last season) is scheduled to take the mound Sunday for the Guardians as they attempt to win the series. Quantrill is 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two career appearances against Seattle, with one start.
The Mariners are set to start left-hander Marco Gonzales (10-15, 4.13 ERA last season). He’s 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in three previous games against Cleveland, including two starts.
“We’ve got to come back (Sunday) and get a split in the series and keep on moving,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
–Field Level Media
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