Of course we start with a split squad game, and the one against Cincinnati was the only one on MLB.TV. I’m happy to say that the interface on AppleTV still makes it easy for you to listen to Hammy and Rosey while you watch. Hammy was a bit ahead, but it worked great to alert you to a play and you never miss a hit.
Both games were won by the Guards, which means a happy birthday for Bo Naylor! He’s 26 and heading to the WBC for Canada soon.
🎉 Reds 2, Guards 4
We didn’t get a whole lot to speculate on for who be on the final roster, but the team did well. Will Benson (former Guardian) hit a two run home run, and Cleveland came back with Arias driving in Naylor (Bo batting fourth and doing well) in the forth, and Fry knocking in Tolentino in the sixth. Then Kieboom drove in two (Mooney and Tolentino) in the seventh and Cleveland never looked back.
Fry put in a lot of work over the break to get his upper body back on track, and you can hardly tell his fast was smashed in by a Skubal pitch last Post Season. Tolentino put on a clinic at short, which may make the battle for that position more interesting. Especially since Arias got caught stealing.
On the pitching front, Lt. Allen had two scoreless, and Holderman gave up the homer. Everyone else did as expected.
We had some ABS challenges:
| Challenger | Result |
|---|---|
| Stewart S (CIN) | Strike-Overturned to Ball |
| Lampe (CLE) | Strike-Confirmed |
Overall, a nice first game. The best moment was when Hammy got so perplexed by a pitcher!
Yeah, he went side and standard. We all went what the fuck!
🎉 Guards 9, Brewers 6
Of course this wasn’t on air at all.
First home run of the season goes to Nolan Jones, who’s in the battle for his position. He never got back up to how well he did his rookie year, and he became known as “Oh No Jones” at home. He drove in a few runs today, which is nice.
It looked like our pitchers had a rough go, and it was a higher scoring game than I like to see.
A lot more ABS in this game!
| Challenger | Result |
|---|---|
| Hedges (CLE) | Ball-Overturned to Strike |
| McGuire (MIL) | Ball-Confirmed |
| Ingle (CLE) | Strike-Overturned to Ball |
| Ingle (CLE) | Ball-Overturned to Strike |
| Frias (CLE) | Strike-Overturned to Ball |
| Genao (CLE) | Strike-Confirmed |
| Cozart (CLE) | Strike-Confirmed |
As Hammy pointed out, teams are experimenting with how to use ABS. Unlike a Manager Challenge, you can’t get any help or signal from the coaches or replay guys.
