SURPRISE, AZ. — Matt Beaty hit two home runs, including a two-run drive off all-star Emmanuel Clase to lead the Kansas City Royals over the Cleveland Guardians, 7-6, Sunday.
Cleveland (5-9-1) had 12 hits, two more than the red-hot Royals (14-2). Myles Straw (.273) got two hits and his first spring RBI and Gabriel Arias (.346) two hits and two runs. Jhonkensy Noel homered for his first spring hit and Angel Martinez (.250) added a two-run triple. The Guardians grounded into three double plays, two by Will Brennan (.304), and made two errors.
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Roman Quinn (.158) walked, stole second, and scored in the ninth. His only spring hits were three unlikely homers two weeks ago. Noel singled (now 2-for-13) and was thrown out trying for second to end the game. Earlier, he was “caught stealing” when he jogged to second on what he thought was ball four to the next batter. One problem. It was ball three; easy out.
Guardians starter Xzavion Curry allowed five hits and two runs over four innings. He struck out one though his hard, sinking fastball got eight outs on ground balls. Getting more groundouts with that sinker could get the right-hander with a 17-5 record in 44 minor-league games a spot in Cleveland’s bullpen if needed. Reliever Eli Morgan (11.57 ERA) scuffled again, giving up a solo homer to ex-Guardian Franmil Reyes (.391) and three runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Beaty, a 29-year-old first baseman signed as a free agent, had a solo homer off Curry in the first and went 3-for-3. He is hitting .407 (7-for-15).
OF George Valera, RHP Peyton Battenfield, and LHPs Logan Allen and Joey Cantillo were reassigned to the Guardians’ minor-league camp. Cleveland’s full-season farm teams open exhibition play Monday against Cincinnati Reds squads. Ex-Guardians infielder Ernie Clement was released by Oakland. The Athletics had claimed him on waivers last September.
Snakes Alive!
on March 12, 2007, as curious yet wary media members observe. That blue laptop belongs to SportRelay.com reporter
Chuck Murr
It’s the 16th anniversary of one of the more bizarre incidents in Cleveland spring training history: a snake in the press box. It happened in the 4th inning of Cleveland’s 6-5 loss to the New York Mets at Winter Haven (FL) Ballpark in 2007. Those that were there will never forget it.
A black snake, about an inch in diameter and 3 feet long, suddenly popped through a hole and onto the work area. Cleveland media director Bart Swain calmly intoned, “Houston, we’ve got a problem. Snake in the press box.”
That’s all it took to send one scribe scurrying like Kenny Lofton and screaming like a lunatic. Startled fans in box seats whirled around to see what was causing the commotion. Other wary writers had one foot in exit stage left mode, but stoically stayed put in curiosity. Former Indians outfielder Rick Manning, calling the game on TV, chuckled aloud on the air. He recognized the voice and figured it was just another day for the reporter long noted for strange, hilarious outbursts. Manning had no idea what it was but knew it had to be zany.
Gator To The Rescue
The snake slithered across a notebook and two laptops before a member of the grounds crew arrived to save the day. Nicknamed “Gator” for often wrestling alligators in the parking lot that had stepped out of nearby Lake Lulu, he was accustomed to dealing with all sorts of assorted bugs and creatures crawling or flying around the decades-old ball yard.
He grabbed the snake by the back end and whirled it around, using centrifugal force to keep it from biting. He accidentally swiped it against my face in doing so. It was startling but no harm, no foul and he deposited it over the back wall into a grassy area.
The best line came from the fertile mind of veteran writer Jim Ingraham: “Just my luck to have a snake up here on the day when I left my mongoose in another pair of pants.”
What A Wonderful World
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It was not all that great for Cal Quantrill on Sunday. He had one of the worst outings of his career and failed to get out of the first inning for Team Canada at Chase Field in Phoenix. The usually calm, cool, and collected Cleveland right-hander gave up three runs on four walks, two hits, and three stolen bases, getting only two outs. Only 17 of his 37 pitches were strikes, atypical for the 27-year-old who yielded 2.3 walks per nine innings while going 15-5 for Cleveland in 2022.
Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Chavez Young stole home on a double steal and had three of Great Britain’s five thefts in two innings off Guardians catching prospect Bo Naylor. He finally nailed a runner in the third. Canada’s offense took Quantrill and Naylor off the hook with a five-run bottom of the first and went on to a wild 18-8 win mercifully stopped after 7 innings by a 10-run rule. Naylor went 0-for-2 with a run and three walks, one with the bases loaded.
John Axford fanned one in one hitless inning. The 39-year-old Canadian had 10 saves for Cleveland in 2014.
Class Act
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Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, pitching coach for The Netherlands, was a gracious loser after the Dutch were eliminated by upstart Italy, 7-1, in Taiwan. “Tough taking a loss tonight vs. Italy,” he posted on social media. “Congratulations to Italy and Cuba advancing to Round 2 of the WBC. Hope you both advance to Miami.”
Blyleven had 287 wins and notched 3,701 strikeouts over 22 MLB seasons (1970-92) for five teams. In 4 1/2 years in Cleveland (1980-84), he had a 48-37 record and 3.23 ERA, missing most of 1982 with an elbow injury. He had one of his best seasons two years later (19-7, 2.87 ERA) and was traded to the Minnesota Twins during the 1985 season for Jay Bell, Curt Wardle, and Rich Yett.
Cabrera Of Colombia
Former Cleveland infielder Jolbert Cabrera was ecstatic following a 5-4 win in 10 innings over Mexico in Phoenix. “We just reaffirmed that Colombian baseball continues to grow,” Colombia’s manager said. “These kids are unbelievable. They (are) so talented. And like I said before, they are fearless. They are fearless and they’re gonna play their hearts out day in, day out. That’s what we’re about.”
A failed car-jacking attempt that left Cabrera shot in the buttocks on Dec. 21, 2001, in the Colombian capital of Bogota, marred Cabrera’s career in Cleveland. After batting .261 with 38 RBI for Cleveland in 2001, it took him until May to get back in playing shape, then hit only .111 in 38 games.
Choo, Choo, Choo!
Cleveland outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was the only MLB player on Team South Korea back in the 2009 WBC. He scored five runs and drove in four, but batted just .188. Two of his three hits were homers, a three-run blast off Carlos Silva in a 10-2 semifinal rout of Venezuela, and a solo shot against Hisashi Iwakuma in the 5-3 finale loss to Japan. Teammates regarded him as if he were Babe Ruth during daily practice at Camelback Ballpark in Glendale, AZ. They allowed him to take five times as many swings during BP. Manager Kim In-Sik proved to be a tough taskmaster, though. “He’s old school, big-time,” Choo said then. “No nonsense, ever. EV-er. This is the biggest tournament for us and he wants to win every game. It is fun, but there is a lot of pressure.”
That season, his second in Cleveland, Choo batted .300 with 20 homers, 21 steals, and 86 RBI. In seven years in town after being acquired from the Seattle Mariners in 2006, the lefty hit .292. In 16 seasons (2005-20) with four MLB teams, he batted, .275 with 218 homers and 782 RBI as the most accomplished Korean hitter in big-league history.
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“Snakes 🥺. Why did it have to be snakes?😫” — Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark).
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The only thing that would have made this story better would have been Harry Caray in the booth announcing the game 😎.