OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Guardians pitches against the Oakland Athletics in the sixth inning at Oakland Coliseum on March 28, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
OAKLAND, CA--- The first game under manager Stephen Vogt is a success as the Guardians took care of business in possibly the last opening day game at Oakland Coliseum as the team's lease expires at the end of the year. Stephen Vogt is the 2nd youngest manager in MLB, just behind Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol. Thursday night was somewhat of a homecoming for Vogt, as just 2 years ago, Vogt was an all-star catcher, the last time a player retired and managed within 2 years of retirement? Larry Bowa in 1987.
The big story of the game was a dominant performance from Cleveland ace Shane Bieber, Bieber pitched 6 shutout innings, giving up only 4 hits while striking out 11 Oakland batters. Bieber is now tied with Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Pedro Martinez, and Bob Gibson for the 2nd most 10+ strikeout games on opening day with 3, the most with 4? "The Big Unit" Randy Johnson. The Guardians would first get on the board in the 2nd inning with a Tyler Freeman RBI double, he would be knocked in by David Fry who got on base with a double of his own. The Guardians would then have a BIG 4th inning that featured 9 Guardians batters at the plate, things got out of hand with Tyler Freeman reaching first after getting hit by a pitch to load the bases for Andres Gimenez, who hit a single to make it 2-0. A 2 run groundball single from Austin Hedges and 2 run double from Bryan Rocchio would make the lead 6-0. Something to keep an eye on is Josh Naylor's hand, he was struck with a pitch in the 5th inning and was in what appeared to be extreme pain, but he stayed in the game. One surprising thing was seeing the top 3 Guardians batters not getting a hit until the 9th inning, that was until Jose Ramirez would hit a stand up triple off the outfield wall, driving in Steven Kwan to extend the lead to 7-0, David Fry would then cap off his 3 for 4 day with a sacrifice fly in that same inning and put the nail in the coffin driving in Ramirez.
The Guardians will hope to play again in Oakland tomorrow night at 10:07, rain looms in the forecast, keep up with he latest on WTAM 1100 AM, 106.9FM and www.wtam.com