Guardians Baseball Insider

After weather played a small role in last week’s schedule, the ACL Indians started off this week with a game that was suspended after three innings against the Cubs, but were otherwise unaffected by Arizona’s monsoon season. They then went on to win three of four with one rough game against the Brewers being the only loss. They are now tied with the ACL Dodgers for first in the ACL Central, a half game ahead of the Angels.

Day by Day

7/16 2-3 Cubs at Indians: Suspended after 3 innings, rescheduled 8/6
7/17 W 2-3 Reds at Indians: W Villalobos, L Gozzo
7/19 L 9-2 Brewers Blue at Indians: W Cornielle, L Vasquez
7/20 W 7-0 Indians at Angels: W Reyes, L Goebel
7/22 W 6-7 White Sox at Indians (F/7): W Perez, L Diaz

Player of the Week

1B/OF Micah Pries: 8/15, 3 HR, 3B, 6 RBI, BB, 4 R

While on rehab assignment from Lynchburg, Pries has been completely on fire with Arizona. To end his four game hitting streak, he had two three hit games with three home runs between them. He could be credited for the game winning runs in each of the ACL Indians three wins this week.

Who’s Hot

SP Reny Artiles: 1 GP, 3 IP, 3 K, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 R

Artiles made his ACL debut on July 20th and went three innings in the start. He struck out three Angels in his three innings and allowed just one base runner. He is just 19 years old after spending his rookie year with both the DSL Indians and Indians/Brewers in 2019.

LHRP Tomas Reyes: 1 GP, 4 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 R

Reyes was a starter back in 2019 with the DSL Indians, but has been used exclusively in relief with the 2021 ACL Indians. On July 20th, he was extended to four innings in relief, his longest and most effective appearance of the season. While he walked one and allowed four hits, he didn’t give up a run and now has a 2.38 ERA over 11.1 innings this season.

Who’s Not

SP Elmson Candelario: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB, HBP, 3 K

After being one of the top performers last week, Candelario had a rough time against the White Sox on July 22nd in a game the Indians eventually won. He allowed a three runs in the first on a wild pitch and home run, then managed through the next two innings without incident. In the fourth, he gave up another home run followed by a single, double and walk leading to his early exit. Once removed, the Indians outscored the White Sox 5-1 for the win.

1B/3B Junior Sanquintin: 1/12, 2 R, BB, 2B, 4 K

Starting with the positives, due to Pries coming in and playing first base, Sanquintin finally got a chance to move back to the left side of the infield as he played third twice and was solid defensively. He also reached twice against the Angels with a double and a walk. However, he didn’t reach in any of his other three games and struck out three times in the game he did reach twice. He is now hitting .212/.293/.404 on the season showcasing that he does have good power, but is struggling to reach base regularly.

Up next (all times local):

7/23 Dodgers @ Indians (Goodyear, 6 PM)
7/24 Indians @ Reds (Goodyear, 1 PM)
7/25 Off
7/26 Indians @ White Sox (Glendale, 6 PM)
7/27 Indians @ Brewers (Phoenix, 6 PM)
7/28 Off
7/29 Indians @ Dodgers (Glendale, 6 PM)