Clubhouse fun helping surprising Guardians thrive
Myles Straw believes there is such a thing as the clutch gene.
And he didn’t hesitate to identify two Cleveland Guardians teammates he thinks are blessed with such DNA.
“Yeah, I do. Josh Naylor,” Straw said Thursday. “Just when he hit that ball foul I was like, ‘He’s probably going to do it again.’ But if there is such a thing, Josh, [Andres] Gimenez comes up big every time with guys on second. They just need to keep doing what they’re doing and I think we’ll be OK.”
In taking the five-game series against the Minnesota Twins, the Guardians recorded back-to-back walk-off victories.
On Wednesday night, they were down to their last strike in the 10th inning when first baseman Naylor came through with a two-run, opposite-field shot, capping a four-run inning in their 7-6 victory. On Thursday, second baseman Gimenez picked up the Guardians with a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning for a 5-3 victory. Two batters earlier, Naylor nearly did it again, sending a fly ball deep to right field that sliced foul before grounding out.
Gimenez is batting .410 with runners in scoring position, second in the league entering the day, and .468 in the eighth inning or later. Naylor is hitting .364 with runners in scoring position.
It marked the Guardians’ fourth walkoff win of the season and continued their magic vs. the Twins. In the last 10 days, Cleveland (43-36) has won four times against Minnesota when trailing by two runs or more in the eighth inning or later. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that marks the most such comeback wins by one team over another in a full season since 1974 (Detroit over Cleveland).
On Thursday, the Guardians had one hit through 7.1 innings, yet still recorded their 17th victory in their final at-bat and their 18th come-from-behind win.
“You don’t see guys throwing helmets and stuff,” said manager Terry Francona. “I’m sure they’re frustrated, but they just keep playing. For a young team, that’s impressive, because a lot of times guys are trying to find their way through the league and they forget about the scoreboard. Our guys do a good job of knowing what the score is and what we need to do to try to win.”
Said Straw: “We don’t give up. I don’t think there’s a quitter in here. I saw that stat, something about being down by three runs or something, we lead or whatever, which I thought was pretty cool. That just kind of shows that right there.”
The Guardians believe the camaraderie is contributing to their ability to come from behind. They put up a Nerf hoop and Straw believes it was infielder Ernie Clement who marked the 3-point and free-throw lines with athletic tape. Something thicker may be in order considering the use the “court” is getting.
“We get some bets running on it,” Straw said. “Franmil [Reyes] is better than I thought he would be, so he got me once today. So I gotta pick and choose who I challenge.”
Pitcher Shane Bieber said the Guardians “always have fun.”
“Sometimes we have more fun off the field, which can be crazy,” Bieber said. “It’s a big family in here. You can talk to whoever. You’ve got coaches coming over here to take shots. It just kind of shows you how close this team is, whether it’s the coaching staff, players, or whatever. When you’re around people like that, it just makes everything a lot easier. You enjoy it a lot more and it just is kind of nice. We’re just a big brotherhood in here and we love each other.”