CLEVELAND, Ohio — With less than 24 hours to go before the trade deadline, the Guardians reached the midway point of their season with symmetry and steadiness — a 54-54 record after a 5-0 shutout of the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
The win secured a series victory and, more importantly, offered a sense of calm before the potential storm of roster movement. And no one embodied that calm quite like José Ramírez.
Before the game, the Guardians’ cornerstone was unfazed by the swirling trade rumors that had floated through the clubhouse. Instead of tension, Ramírez brought levity — cracking jokes, light on his feet, focused on the task in front of him.
When he stepped into the batter’s box for the first time, that same ease radiated through his swing.
On a 2-2 offspeed pitch, Ramírez laced a double off the left field wall at 101.5 mph, a 368-foot shot that added another milestone to his decorated career. The hit was his 1,617th — moving him into seventh place on the Guardians’ all-time list.
Meanwhile, in the lineup, David Fry answered a different kind of tension. With Kyle Manzardo not starting, particularly against a lefty in Kyle Freeland, fans let their frustrations be known before the game. But Fry quickly flipped that narrative.
Instead of fans throwing their hands in the air over Stephen Vogt’s decision, it was Freeland dropping his head in disbelief. Fry blasted a 383-foot, two-run homer in the second inning, giving Cleveland a lead it never relinquished.
“David Fry kills lefties,” Vogt said pregame. “For [Manzardo], it’s keep hitting, keep earning more playing time, keep doing your thing and keep growing. And one day the opportunity might be there for you to play versus both [righties and lefties]. But the way our team is constructed right now, it’s just not the cards for every day playing against both.
“We’re always looking for the matchups. It’s not necessarily just handedness, it’s we dive in much deeper than that and we try to get all of our guys playing time.”
Fry didn’t stop with the long ball. He worked a walk in the fourth, advanced to second on a soft grounder, then came around to score on Brayan Rocchio’s sacrifice fly. Quietly, Fry showed not just power, but savvy — taking what was given and turning it into run production.
Manzardo still got his chance, just as Vogt foreshadowed. He entered as a pinch-hitter for Fry in the sixth once the Rockies turned to a right-hander. After striking out in his first at-bat, he came through in the eighth with an RBI single to extend his hit streak to nine games.
Carlos Santana followed by adding an exclamation point — an RBI double with two outs in the same inning that pushed Cleveland’s lead to 5-0.
On the mound, it was a bullpen showcase from start to finish. Six Guardians pitchers combined to allow just three hits and one walk while striking out 10, giving Cleveland’s rotation a much-needed breather heading into the weekend.
Kolby Allard set the tone, tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and just one hit. He lowered his ERA to 2.62 across 44 2/3 innings this season.
“Kolby can pitch whenever we ask him to and [that’s] super valuable,” Vogt said pregame. “To have someone that you know isn’t going to be shaken, isn’t going to have a restless night’s sleep, it’s huge. He has experience doing it all.”
Now, the Guardians wait. Will the front office make moves to strengthen the roster for a potential second-half push? Or will they ride with the group that returned them to .500 and are still in the wild card race?
Up Next
The Guardians continue their homestand, welcoming the Minnesota Twins to Progressive Field on Friday with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. Eastern.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.