'A period of high significance': Cleveland Guardians continue winning ways over Athletics

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6 days ago

CLEVELAND — Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff are always evaluating their players and the team.
So is manager Stephen Vogt.
The Guardians looked like a playoff team July 18 in an 8-6 win over the Athletics before a crowd of 34,691 at Progressive Field.
Johnathan Rodriguez hit a solo home run and David Fry hit a two-run home run as the Guardians won their opening game out of the all-star break with all-star Steven Kwan sidelined with a wrist injury.
All-star José Ramírez continued to flash his brilliance at the plate, on the basepaths and with his glove.
Angel Martínez, Brayan Rocchio and Nolan Jones delivered big hits, and Slade Cecconi was solid for eight innings on the mound.
"It was fun," Fry said. "A really cool night. Scored a bunch of runs. Obviously, Slade was awesome and Acho [Rodriguez] got his first career homer."
Cecconi pitched a career-high 8⅓ innings, struck out two and allowed eight hits, six earned runs and no walks. His stat line was better before the ninth, when he allowed two runs after Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker smacked triples and Shea Langeliers hit a double.
"Outstanding," Vogt said of Cecconi, who retired the first 12 batters he faced. "Unbelievable how efficient he was. Quick outs. I loved it. He didn't get his first punchout until the [seventh]. That is a beautifully pitched game using all pitches. He hung a couple of sliders. Outside of that, you can't say anything bad. He earned the ninth.
"Obviously, the offense gave us some cushion. … Great job by our guys coming out hot in the second half."
The Guardians entered the all-star break hot after sweeping the host Houston Astros in a three-game series July 7-9 and winning three out of four games in Chicago over the White Sox from July 11-13.
The six wins in seven games followed a 10-game losing streak from June 26-July 6 during which Cleveland was shut out five times. The Guardians lost a game to the Toronto Blue Jays to start the streak that also included three losses apiece to the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers.
"This is a period of high significance and importance for the team," Chernoff said before the game. "We have to see where we come out of the break. Our schedule was one of the hardest up through that point, up through that 10-game losing streak, unfortunately, and then it starts to get easier hopefully, at least in terms of the records of the teams that we play. I know our guys remain hungry and this will be a hugely important couple of weeks for us.
"... It's been an emotional 2½ weeks with the ups and downs of our season. I think we're going to have to take it up to the last minute [of the trade deadline] and see where we are. It's our job to prepare on all sides of this and know every single opportunity we have to improve our team or on the flip side to take advantage of a moment if we are not in contention for a spot.
"So, I'm hopeful we can pull ourselves back into closer contention. I do think there are a lot of teams that are in the mix right now in the AL, but I think our team is good enough to contend. So, the question really just comes down to how we do over the next couple of weeks and the assessment that we make as we head into the deadline."
The trade deadline wasn't on Cecconi's mind as he threw 107 pitches.
"I felt good [going into the ninth]," Cecconi said. "I felt like I still had some gas in the tank, some tough luck there with some balls just that close, but last game went through the eighth [in a win against the Astros], struggled a little bit, learned from it. Got through the eighth today, went into the ninth, struggled a little bit, going to learn from it, be better next time.
"I've been wanting to throw a complete game my whole career. It's been something I've dreamed about doing, something I know I will do one day. Thought it was going to be today, but the lessons I learned from today are going to help me next time I get the chance.
"... That parasympathetic nervous system kind of just knows you're doing something you've never done before. So, you can try to control it as much as you want, but as soon as you do it for the first time and get it over with and your body kind of knows what that feels like, it is going to be smooth sailing from then on."
Cecconi used his defense behind him to navigate through his start, which did include allowing solo home runs to Rooker and Langeliers in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, and a double to Denzel Clarke and a RBI single by Kurtz in the sixth.
"Slider was coming and going," Cecconi said. "I threw a couple good ones, hung a couple. Those two homers were hung sliders in two-strike counts that need to be executed better, but curveball felt pretty good. We were kind of using a similar game plan to last time. It was funny, we got an early lead, started mixing fours and twos, getting early contact, a lot of ground balls and the game plan held pretty true to that."
Rodriguez gave the Guardians a 1-0 lead with a home run off JP Sears in the second inning and Fry hit a two-run homer off Sears in a four-run third to give Cecconi a nice cushion.
"J-Rod getting us on board with his first career homer, that was so cool," Vogt said. "A really cool moment for him. Obviously, with Rocchy and Angel at the top, really keeping the line moving, and Joséy being Joséy. Jonesy with a base hit. It was up and down the order. Fry hits a homer. What a great team win that was getting contributions all over and great defense."
Ramírez scored twice after hitting a triple and a double. Rocchio hit two doubles, had two RBIs and scored a run and Martínez contributed an RBI single, a double and a run.
"We rode the road trip offense right into tonight," Vogt said. "… It would be great to score eight runs every night, but to me it was the way we grinded out at-bats. We made Sears come into the [strike] zone. We didn't chase him. We stuck to our plan."
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Slade Cecconia, Jose Ramirez lead Guardians in second-half opener