Sorry, the Guardians aren’t going anywhere anytime soon

Dear opposing baseball clubs,

I’m sorry, but actually not really. This Cleveland Guardians team is going to annoy you all the way until October and that’s why we like them. Have a nice day.

Last night they exemplified their never-say-die attitude with multiple rallies during their win over the Oakland Athletics. In front of a roaring Oakland crowd of at least a dozen, they overcame a rough starting job from Zach Plesac and a minor bullpen implosion along the way to eventually win their fourth game of the season, 12-11.

Plesac, who allowed six earned runs in one inning of work, insisted after the game that he felt good but it just “wasn’t my night.” When pressed specifically about the location of pitches, he reiterated that it wasn’t a problem, instead pointing to falling behind in the count and a few balls getting through the defense.

Whether or not Plesac put those 90 mph fastballs over the heart of the plate on purpose, what matters here is that the rest of his team overcame it as a unit. From top to bottom, everyone picked up the slack when they needed it. And they needed a lot of it because not even Emmanuel Clase seemed to have it last night, suffering his first blown save of 2023 and letting the game get to extra innings.

The only starter on offense who didn’t have a hit was Josh Bell, but even he finished with the go-ahead RBI sac fly that plated a hustling José Ramírez. Steven Kwan, Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor, Andrés Giménez, Myles Straw, and Ramírez all had multiple hits as they dinked and dunked and stole their way to another come-from-behind win.

What a great night for Cleveland baseball.

Guardians 12, Athletics 11 (F/10)

Box Score | Game Thread | CTC Recap | MLB Recap
Can words really describe what the heck happened last night? Blake tries his best with the recap, and captures the absolute insanity of the Guardians’ fourth straight win of the season.

Today’s baseball: @ Athletics, 9:40 p.m. ET (RHP Shane Bieber vs. LHP JP Sears)

Cleveland Guardians news

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF GUARDIANS CHESS CLUB T-SHIRT; STEVEN KWAN TO ATTEND T-SHIRT SIGNING | MLB
The Guardians and HOMAGE have partnered up to bring a Steven Kwan-themed t-shirt. Kwan will attend a signing for the shirt on April 8 at the Team Store at Progressive Field. While they don’t link the specific shirt in this press release, I would assume it’s this one.

Around the league

• Anthony Rendon will be suspended four games for grabbing a fan.
• Yordan Alvarez hits a lot of home runs.
• Michael Kopech gave up four home runs in a single inning.