What We Learned About Guardians After Series Victory Over Rangers

The Cleveland Guardians take two of three games from the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers.

May 14, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Cleveland Guardians second base Andres Gimenez (0) hits a sacrifice fly rbi during the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians’ 10th series victory of the season came against the defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers. 

Let’s get into what we learned about this squad over the last three games.

Emmanuel Clase Deserves More Recognition

Cleveland’s closer is off to a historic start to the season and it’s about time Emmanuel Clase starts to get a little more recognition around baseball. Guardians fans know just how dominant he is, but it feels like he’s ignored outside of Cleveland.

Clase finished the first two games of the series with the second ending with his American League-leading 12th of the season. His ERA over 22 appearances sits at 0.42 and he’s allowing under one runner on base per inning.

This isn’t necessarily something we learned, but just a reminder as to how crucial back-of-the-bullpen pitching is to winning games.

Tough Tyler Freeman

Tyler Freeman saw it all in this series against the Rangers. He was hit by two pitches, made a hard diving catch in cetner field, and was on the receiving end of a scary collision with shorts top Brayan Rocchio in the second game alone. 

After the game, Freeman said he felt, “good.”

Freeman may have been beaten up in this series, but he still managed to collect a hit in all three games as he settled into the leadoff role.

May 14, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Cleveland Guardians second base Andres Gimenez (0) hits a sacrifice fly rbi during the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Andres Gimenez’s Bat Heating Back Up

Andres Gimenez started the season red hot at the plate and then cooled off in the middle of April. If this Guardians offense is going to go, he has to be getting the ball in play as much as possible.

Gimenez recorded multi-hit games in each game of the series and also batted in three runners as well. He was a massive reason as to why the Guardians won this series. Now, he just has to keep it going.

This is a great sign for Cleveland’s offense who desperately miss Steven Kwan’s impact at the top of the order.