The Cleveland Guardians are 8-2 on the young 2024 MLB season.
They are winners of five straight games, and they still haven’t lost a series as of Tuesday afternoon.
It’s their best start since 2011, and it has given fans a reason to go to the stadium, support, and why not, dream about something bigger.
The organization hosted its home opener on Monday against the Chicago White Sox.
It ended in a 4-0 victory for the home team, and the sellout crowd at Progressive Field enjoyed every minute of it.
Jose Ramirez homered, Steven Kwan had three hits, and Andres Gimenez had two, but the hero of the day was starter Triston McKenzie.
Now that Shane Bieber has been lost for the season with an elbow injury, the health and effectiveness of McKenzie becomes even more important.
Fortunately, he keeps progressing with every outing, and after his mediocre start against the Oakland Athletics, he tossed 5.2 scoreless frames against the White Sox in the home opener.
After the game, he praised the raucous crowd and gave credit to them.
“‘I could feel the energy in the stadium from not only the fans, but the guys here.’ Triston McKenzie spoke about the experience of starting the home opener for the @CleGuardians today. He also was happy with his fastball command in his 5 2/3 scoreless innings,” Bally Sports Cleveland tweeted.
"I could feel the energy in the stadium from not only the fans, but the guys here."
Triston McKenzie spoke about the experience of starting the home opener for the @CleGuardians today.
He also was happy with his fastball command in his 5 2/3 scoreless innings. #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/JSHzN9XYHK
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 9, 2024
Command, overall, was a bit spotty on the game for McKenzie.
He allowed three hits and walked four hitters, striking out just two.
Vintage McKenzie does a very good job limiting walks and strikes out almost as many people as his innings pitched total.
Still, he managed to keep the opposition off the scoreboard even if he was helped by their own incompetence.
NEXT: Jose Ramirez Made Guardians History With 1 Swing
