A completely average week in the score book still had many exciting moments for Cleveland baseball fans.
HoF Inductions
Cooperstown, New York was full of Cleveland fans on Sunday for two pretty good reasons. CC Sabathia and Tom Hamilton were both inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sabathia for his pitching, and Hamilton for his broadcasting. Sabathia played for Cleveland for the first eight years of his career, one that included six All-Star appearances, a Cy Young award, a World Series championship (sadly,
not with Cleveland). He is just the third left handed pitcher in MLB history to pass 250 wins and 3,000 strikeouts.
While legendary broadcaster Tom Hamilton was not inducted as a player like Sabathia, he entered the hall as a winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence. For the last 35 years, “Hammy” has been the soundtrack to 162 nights each summer for all Cleveland fans. His iconic home run calls, knowledge of the game, and appreciation for the City of Cleveland is what got him to the Hall. It’s just not a proper Cleveland baseball game without Hammy at the mic.
Kwan Has Career First
On Thursday night versus the Baltimore Orioles, Steven Kwan collected his first multi-home run game in a close loss. The first came in the third inning against O’s starter Charlie Morton. It was a 384 foot fly to right center field at 98.4 miles per hour that got the Guardians on the board. The second came in the fifth inning - also against Morton - and tied the game at three each. This one was a 372 foot dart to right field at 98.6 miles per hour. While the Guards couldn’t pull off the win, this game was a great sign for Kwan who has been dealing with a nagging wrist injury as of late. While this doesn’t mean that he’s suddenly all better, it’s a great sign to see him finding success at the plate and playing consistently.
Bieber Makes Rehab Appearances
I feel like I include this in the positives every week, but it is most certainly a positive thing. Shane Bieber pitched three innings of a game for the Lake County Captains on Tuesday, giving up one run on two hits and striking out four. He was then supposed to make another start for the Columbus Clippers on Sunday, but that was rained out. He is expected to make this start up on Tuesday, but there has been no announcement as to which affiliate it will be with. The Clippers will be in Florida, so they can most likely be ruled out. While there is no set date for his Major League return, there have been many signs pointing to sometime in August.
More from coveringthecorner.com:
- MLB trade rumors: Indians acquire Joe Smith from Blue Jays
- MLB trade rumors: Indians “pushing hard” for Zach Britton
- Indians go small at trade deadline, can still win big in October
- MLB trade rumors: Indians have had talks with Rangers about Yu Darvish
- MLB trade rumors: Indians “targeting” Joe Smith
- Could Deadline Day be a quiet one for the Indians?
- Mike Clevinger faces off against Doug Fister and Boston Red Sox
