Guardians welcome Giants for first home series of 2022

If you wanted a test for the Guardians offense, this series could be it. After facing two rebuilding teams last week, Cleveland will welcome one of the best pitching staffs in baseball for a three-game set.

We’re only six games into the season, so take the stats with a grain of salt, but only the Mets have put up better pitching numbers than the Giants so. Thankfully the Guardians will avoid Logan Webb — who has been masterful in his two starts — but they open the series against Carlos Rodón. You may remember him as the one who was one of the three pitchers to no-hit the Guardians last season as a member of the White Sox.

Rodón sliced through a weak Cleveland lineup last time around, needing 114 pitches to complete the no-hitter in the 8-0 win. Likely the only reason it didn’t result in a perfect game was that he hit Roberto Pérez in the foot with one out in the ninth. He finished the day with seven strikeouts and the one hit-by-pitch. Among Cleveland batters no-hit that day were Ben Gamel, Jake Bauers, and Eddie Rosario.

Rodón struck out 12 over his five innings against the Marlins last week. He’ll bring his typical fastball-slider-changeup combination to the game Friday night. The Guards will, of course, have a scorching hot Owen Miller, Steven Kwan, and José Ramírez to counter with; maybe they’ll get a hit or two.

Giants relievers have been equally impressive this season, with a 2.74 ERA over a combined 23.0 innings of work. Lefty Jarlín Garcia and right-hander Zack Littell have combined for 5.0 of those innings and have yet to allow a run and have just one walk between them.

The Giants have not allowed more than five runs in any game since their 6-5 over the Marlins on Opening Day. The Guardians have not scored fewer than seven since Sunday. Let’s go.

This series is also noteworthy because the Guardians actually get a few night games in for the first time this season; the opener will also coincide with the Cleveland Cavaliers playing in a must-win game to get into the NBA postseason. But who would watch that when you can watch Steven Kwan continue to not miss baseballs? Not I.

Team at a glance

• Record: 4-2 (5th in NL)
• Runs Scored: 27 (11th in NL)
• Run Differential: +11 (3rd in NL)
• Last 10: 4-2
• Slash: .241/.315/.393
• wOBA: .314 (10th in NL)
• wRC+: 104 (10th in NL)
• ERA: 2.62 (2nd in NL)
• SIERA: 2.90 (2nd in NL)
• K-BB%: 19.9% (2nd in NL)

Projected starters

Friday, April 15, 7:10 p.m. ET: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. Zach Plesac
Saturday, April 16, 6:10 p.m. ET: RHP Anthony DeSclafani vs. Cal Quantrill
Sunday, April 17, 1:40 p.m. ET: LHP Alex Wood vs. Aaron Civale

Hot hitters

Brandon Belt, 1B - Hey Brandon Belt, remember him? It seems like it was only yesterday that it was 2012 and he was supposed to be taking baseball by storm. Now 10 years later he’s morphed into a pretty solid player off to a hot start in 2022. He leads the Giants with seven hits and two home runs

Joc Pederson, OF - I bet some buffoon, some utter rube, wanted the Guardians to sign Joc Pederson this offseason, potentially blocking the Steven Kwan smoke show. Couldn’t be me. Anyway, he has four hits and has probably swung and missed more than twice.

Roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart