CHICAGO — The
Guardians
’ locker room emptied quickly after
Sunday’s 6-5 win over the White Sox
in 10 innings at Rate Field.
The All-Star break was at hand, and players had places to be and things to do.
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When reporters arrived after posting their game stories, there were already a couple of golf carts waiting outside the visitors’ locker room to take players to the team’s charter buses.
One bus was taking players and coaches to O’Hare International Airport. A second bus was taking players and coaches to Midway International Airport. A third was taking players and coaches to the team’s charter flight from Midway to Cleveland.
They needed a traffic cop to keep things straight.
One golf cart was filled with Emmanuel Clase, Angel Martinez, Jose Ramirez and Carlos Santana as they hurried to catch flights to their homes in Florida or the Dominican Republic.
Kyle Manzardo, who hit a three-run homer Sunday, could only answer a few questions before he was catching a flight back home Idaho, where his mother is recovering from open-heart surgery.
Steven Kwan and manager Stephen Vogt were headed to the All-Star Game in Atlanta. Kwan drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th and then made a great catch in the bottom of the inning to help preserve it.
Here’s what some of the Guardians will be doing over four-day break.
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Clase: He’s going home to relax in the Dominican. This is the first time in three years he wasn’t named to the All-Star team. “I’m looking forward to seeing Andrés Muñoz (Seattle’s closer) pitch in the All-Star Game,” said Clase, who registered saves for the American League in 2022 and 2024.
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UT Martinez: He’s going home to the Dominican to visit his family.
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RHP Cade Smith: He’s going camping with his wife.
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LHP Joey Cantillo: He’s going to spend the break in Michigan.
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RHP Jakob Junis: He’ll go home to Scottsdale, Arizona, to be with his family.
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LHP Erik Sabrowski: He’s staying in Cleveland with his wife. “It will a nice break,” he said. “We just played 13 games in 13 days. It will be nice to lay low and decompress. We’re hot right now and I hope we can carry that into the second half.”
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INF Will Wilson: He’ll go home to North Carolina to visit family.
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RHP Matt Festa: He’s flying with Manzardo to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to see his fiancee. “It’s beautiful country out there,” said Festa. “It’s America. You see bald eagles fly around, and moose on the side of the road.”
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1B Santana: He’s going home to Tampa to see his family.
The Guardians may be playing their best baseball of the season at the moment, but Vogt said the All-Star break is needed.
“The way we played on this road trip you’re like, ‘Oh, man, should we keep going?’” said Vogt. “No, these guys need a break. They need four days off. We all do.
“It’s that time of year. Whether you’re going good, bad or indifferent, four days off is a great thing.”
The Guardians will hold an optional workout Thursday at Progressive Field before resuming the season Friday against the Athletics at Progressive Field.
Trip revisited
Here are some numbers from the Guardians’ just-completed seven-game trip in which they went 6-1 against Houston and the White Sox.
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They hit 13 home runs in seven games. T
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They scored 26 of their 41 runs with two out.
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Those 26 runs are more than the Guardians scored with two out in the entire month of June.
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They scored four or more runs in each of the seven games on this trip. It’s the first time they’ve scored four or more runs in seven consecutive road games since Sep. 9 through Sept. 25, 2022.
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Ramirez had 10 RBI, while Martinez added eight on the trip.
Swap meet
In 2023, the Guardians traded Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay for Manzardo at the deadline. On Saturday, Civale was visiting friends on the Guardians when he introduced himself to Manzardo.
The two players talked for a few moments and someone took a picture. They met again Sunday, but this time Civale was pitching for the White Sox and Manzardo was hitting.
Civale retired him on a fly ball in the second inning and struck him out in the fourth. In the sixth, Manzardo hit a three-run homer to erase a 3-1 Chicago lead.
“I remember in 2023 when that trade happened,” said Kwan. “Civale was a really good friend of ours and it was heartbreaking to see him go.
“But today Manzo helps us win a game. It’s a privilege of being in the game a long time to see things like that happen.”
Finally
The Guardians have won 10 of their last 11 games against the White Sox. They’re 6-1 this year and 17-8 in the AL Central despite their 46-49 record.
