This Cleveland Guardians Reliever Is Off To A Historic Start This Season

On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Guardians earned their third consecutive victory with a 7-4 win over the reigning World Series Champion Texas Rangers, clinching their 10th series win of the season.

Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase sealed the victory with a scoreless ninth inning of relief, earning his 12th save of the season in his 14th opportunity.

With his latest outing, the 26-year-old has now etched himself into the MLB history books for his performance through Cleveland’s first 43 team games.

The two-time reigning MLB All-Star is tied for the most appearances (22) among MLB relief pitchers, and his 12 saves rank tied for third. He has also thrown 22 strikeouts in 21.1 innings of work, allowing just one earned run and two walks, and holding opposing hitters to a .169 batting average.

According to Cleveland Stats on X, Clase is now the second pitcher in MLB history to record at least 12 saves, one-or-fewer earned runs, and two-or-fewer walks in a team’s first 43 games. Hall-of-Famer and former Cleveland pitcher Dennis Eckersley also did this twice as a member of the Oakland Athletics in both 1990 and 1992.

Clase has been the anchor of a Guardians bullpen that has been one of the best units in MLB so far this season. 

Cleveland’s relievers lead the league in ERA (2.38), WHIP (1.01), fewest runs allowed (50), fewest home runs allowed (seven), and opponent batting average (.200, tied). The group also ranks top-five in MLB in: strikeouts (185, second), fewest earned runs allowed (44, second), wins (13, tied for third), saves (14, tied for third), fewest walks (50, fourth), and holds (30, fifth).

The Guardians will seek their fourth straight win when they conclude their series against the Rangers on Wednesday night at 8:05 p.m.