Fastball

Cleveland Guardians Slugger Ties Powerful Team History with Friday Blast

The Cleveland Guardians beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night as rookie Jhonkensy Noel tied a powerful record in team history.

Brady Farkas

Cleveland Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel (43) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Progressive Field on Aug 30.
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel (43) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Progressive Field on Aug 30. / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
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The Cleveland Guardians put on an offensive clinic on Friday night, pounding out 16 hits as part of a 10-8 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With the win, Cleveland is now 77-58 on the year. Because of a loss by the Kansas City Royals, they now have a crucial 2.5 game lead in the American League Central.

Cleveland had five players register multi-hit games in the win. They also hit two home runs, including one by rookie Jhonkensy Noel. The former well-regarded prospect now has 13 homers in just 126 at-bats, tying him in some impressive team history.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Jhonkensy Noel’s 13 HR are tied for most in a player’s first 45 career games in Cleveland history, with:

Russell Branyan

Noel also has 26 RBI and a .944 OPS. The 23-year-old from the Dominican Republic made his debut back on June 26.

As for Branyan, the slugger spent 14 years in the big leagues with a multitude of teams. He played for Cleveland, the Cincinnati Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels. He hit a career-high 31 homers with the Mariners in 2009. He hit 24 with Cleveland/Cincinnati back in 2002.

The Guardians and Pirates will play again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 6:10 p.m. ET. Luis L. Ortiz will get the ball for Pittsburgh. Matthew Boyd will pitch for Cleveland. He's 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA.

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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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