The Cleveland Guardians defeated the American League West leading Houston Astros by a final score of 6-1 on Monday night. Cleveland was led by superstar Jose Ramirez and Triston McKenzie in the victory. Ramirez homered and drove in 4 runs in the ball game, while McKenzie shut Houston down over 7 quality innings on the mound.
The duo played well enough to draw some impressive praise from manager Terry Francona.
Francona first discussed McKenzie's outing and improvement so far in 2022.
“Their (Astros) lineup is potent, they are dangerous,” Francona said. “He (McKenzie) really pitched well. He was aggressive with his fastball, good off-speed, basically really pitched. I just thought his fastball consistently had good ride through the zone.”
The Guardians manager then bluntly described Ramirez's importance to the team.
“For the win? For the whole year,” Francona responded after being asked about Jose Ramirez's importance in the Guardians victory over Houston. “This kid is one of the best players in the game. He just does it everyday. He's a joy to watch.”
That was all Terry Francona had to say about Ramirez. And that is likely because there isn't much else to say. Ramirez is a perennial MVP candidate almost every season and features some of the best overall consistency in MLB.
Meanwhile, Triston McKenzie was one of Cleveland's top prospects a couple of years ago. The right-hander flashed signs of excellence following his initial big league call up, but struggled to throw strikes. But it seems as if he is flipping the script in 2022.
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