Cleveland Guardians Do Something Not Seen in Last Decade of Baseball History

The Cleveland Guardians won their third straight game on Friday night, toppling the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1. The Guardians won, in part, because of a historic second inning in which they did something not seen in the last decade of baseball history.

Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) hits an RBI single in the second inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field on June 21. / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians stayed hot on Friday night, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 at Progressive Field. With the win, Cleveland is now 47-26 on the year and they lead the American League Central by a commanding 7.0 games over the Kansas City Royals.

The loss dropped the reeling Blue Jays to 35-40 on the year, as they look increasingly like sellers at the looming trade deadline.

Rookie Yariel Rodriguez was making his first start in several weeks after coming off the injurd list for Toronto and it didn't go well. The Cuban went just 1.1 innings while surrendering four earned runs on two hits and three walks.

The Guardians scored all seven runs in a record-setting second inning, doing something that hadn't been done in a decade of baseball history.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

the Guardians saw 70 pitches in the 2nd, the most by a team in an inning since the Twins saw 72 b6 on 8/22/14

just the 10th 70+ pitch inning since 2000

the Guardians saw 70 pitches in the 2nd, the most by a team in an inning since the Twins saw 72 b6 on 8/22/14

just the 10th 70+ pitch inning since 2000

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 22, 2024

The Guardians are a very difficult team to play against, as they make a ton of contact and are hard to strike out. That can contribute to long innings and high pitch counts, and it's something we just saw on display in their series win over the Seattle Mariners as well.

Furthermore, the Jays had to use three relievers to get through this game, so now Cleveland has put a big dent in the bullpen, which is useful moving forward in the rest of the series.

The two teams play again on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET.

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