The Cleveland Guardians made a big move when they traded for Luis L. Ortiz.
The former Pittsburgh Pirates showed some woes in Spring Training, and some were worried about his transition to this new team with a different pitching staff.
So far, so good.
He threw an absolute gem in the team’s latest win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
As shown by Guardians Prospective on X, he tossed a career-high ten strikeouts in the 6-3 win to take his team’s record to 8-6.
He threw 100 pitches (64 strikes) and only allowed one hit (a solo homer) and two walks across 5.2 frames.
Per Guardians Prospective, his fastball topped out at 97.8 mph and averaged 96.1 mph, and he induced 17 swings and misses.
Cleveland #Guardians RHP Luis Ortiz set a career high today punching out 10 Royals batters allowing one run over 5.2 innings of work.
Line -5.2(IP) 1H 1R 1ER 2BB 10SO
(100 Pitches 64 Strikes)
Ortiz induced 17 swings and misses. His fastball topped out at 97.8 mph and averaged… pic.twitter.com/bZHaLoA9qg
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 13, 2025
With this performance, Ortiz joined a very exclusive club in Guardians history.
He joined the likes of Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Triston McKenzie, Shane Bieber, Bartolo Colon, Josh Tomlin, Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber, Aaron Civale, Trevor Bauer, and Gavin Williams as the only pitchers in the Wild Card era to log at least ten strikeouts with no more than one hit allowed in a start.
The 26-year-old Ortiz is a rising star.
Across four seasons in the Majors, he’s logged a 13-15 record with a 4.06 ERA.
The Guardians bounced back from a somewhat worrisome start to the season, and they’re currently in second place in the American League Central, trailing only the 9-5 Detroit Tigers.
They will meet with the Royals again on Sunday afternoon, with Ben Lively taking the mound against Cole Ragans.
NEXT: Guardians Analyst Reveals Big Concern About Emmanuel Clase
