Fastball

Cleveland Guardians Closer Does Something Not Done For Nearly 30 Years of Team History

The season of Emmanuel Clase continued on Tuesday night as the Cleveland Guardians toppled the Chicago Cubs.

Brady Farkas

Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Aug 11.
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Aug 11. / Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
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The Cleveland Guardians toppled the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Tuesday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland. With the win, the Guardians are now 71-49.

Though Cleveland is basically assured of a playoff berth this year, every win is critical. They lead the American League Central by just 3.5 games and are trying to ward off the Minnesota Twins there, and they have just a 0.5 game lead on the New York Yankees for the best record in the AL (and possible playoff homefield advantage).

Offense was hard to come by in this one as the Guardians mustered only six hits and the Cubs churned out just five. Matthew Boyd, making his first start of the year after overcoming Tommy John surgery, went 5.1 innings in the no-decision. He struck out six for Cleveland.

And in the back end of the bullpen, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase delivered another save. It was his 37th save of the season as he lowered his ERA to a microscopic 0.64. Though not the favorite, he'll absolutely receive some Cy Young votes at season's end.

The save also put him in some team history not seen for nearly the last 30 seasons, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Emmanuel Clase is the 1st pitcher to record a save in each of 4 consecutive days since:

Edwin Diaz, August 9-12, 2018

only other for CLE since saves official (1969): Jose Mesa, Sept 7-10, 1995 + May 28-31, 1995

h/t @EliasSports + @AndrewSimonMLB q!

Usually, managers don't even like to use closer's for three straight days, but with each win being so important, Stephen Vogt elected to go back to Clase one more time.

The Guardians got to the World Series in that 1995 season, so maybe that's a good omen for this group...

The Guardians and Cubs will play again on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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