Injuries may have sunk season for Guardians

The season has taken a turn for the worse for the Guardians since we last updated the blog.

Injuries have sent Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez to the injured list. Only DeLauter is expected to be back by July.
Wins have been hard to come by, as Cleveland has cobbled together a 2-4 record since my last entry, including a 2-1 loss to Milwaukee on June 16.
All three players were injured during a June 21 3-2 win over the Tigers when the Guardians were able to beat Tariq Skubal, who some consider the premier pitcher in all of baseball.
But that win was tempered by the loss of three of the Guardians' best offensive players.
The good news is the Guardians were still tied for first place in the American League Central Division with the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland is 39-34, and Chicago is 38-33. But not much is expected of Cleveland going forward as it awaits the return of its best player, Ramirez, who broke the hamate bone in his left hand in that win over Detroit and Skubal.
After returning from Texas, the Guardians were swept at home by the Yankees, losing three straight.
On June 8, they lost 7-5; on June 9, it was 3-2, and then, in a matinee on June 10, they were blown out by the Bronx Bombers, 8-4, a loss that dropped their record to 37-33.
After a day off, the Guardians bounced back with a 3-2 win over the Tigers before a Friday night sellout crowd of 35,427.  Tanner Bibee pitched like an ace that evening. He gave up two hits - both home runs - and two earned runs over seven innings while striking out eight and walking two.
I attended two of the Yankees games, and both wins over Detroit.
What I’ll remember about the Yankees series was seeing Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a home run deep into the right field seats in the June 9 loss.
In the June 8 loss to the Bombers, I’ll remember the double play Brayan Rocchio turned on a groundball off the bat of Chisholm Jr.; how Hunter Gaddis could not protect a 5-4 lead; and how Angel Martinez hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning of that game, which was eventually lost in 10 innings.
The win over Detroit and Skubal came on a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon. Daniel Schneeman came off the bench to hit a two-run homer off Skubal in the third inning while batting in DeLauter’s spot in the order.
Martinez left that same game after fouling the ball off his left foot during a first-inning at-bat. He stayed in the game to finish his at-bat before leaving. Medical testing would reveal he’d suffered a non-displaced fracture to his left foot.
DeLauter was injured on the first pitch of the Skubal game. He was in right field when he chased down a smash off the bat of Gleyber Torres. DeLauter slammed into the wall on what would be a double for Torres. A fracture to his right rib cage was the result of the effort.
As I finish this entry, it’s late on the night of June 17 and the Guardians trail in Milwaukee 9-4. Summer has not even officially started. There are still three more full months of the season to go. But with no Jose, Martinez or DeLauter, it could be a long three months.

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