Guardians’ Kyle Manzardo seeks to continue hit parade vs. Rockies

Kyle Manzardo of the Cleveland Guardians is a man of few words, so he lets his bat speak for him.

Manzardo extended his hitting streak to a career-high eight games by hitting a pair of home runs Tuesday, helping the Guardians to a 10-4 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies.

Bragging rights in the three-game interleague series will be on the line Wednesday evening when Cleveland’s Kolby Allard (2-1, 2.83 ERA) takes on fellow left-hander Kyle Freeland (2-10, 5.24) of Colorado.

Manzardo went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs in his second career two-homer game, clearing the fence against Rockies starter Tanner Gordon and reliever Jimmy Herget. Manzardo, a 25-year-old Idaho native, is batting .444 with three home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.352 OPS since his hitting streak began July 21.

Manzardo is batting .235 for the season, with 18 homers and 46 RBIs.

“I’m moving through the middle of the field, extending through the middle of the fastball and seeing the ball deep,” he said. “When we get runners on all the time, it’s fun when it seems like you’re coming up to bat every inning.”

Both of Manzardo’s homers came on changeups as the Guardians jumped in front 10-1, quickly removing the bad taste in their mouths from an 8-6 setback in the series opener Monday. Colorado scored four runs in the ninth off newly installed closer Cade Smith in that game, which started 2 1/2 hours late because of rain.

“We had a late night last night, so we tried to flush it,” Manzardo said. “We showed up ready to work, ready to get back in the win column.”

Allard will make a spot start to keep the rest of the rotation on normal rest, as he did on May 28 in a four-inning, two-run, no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 20 relief outings.

The 27-year-old will pitch against the Rockies for the fourth time, owning an 0-1 record and 16.20 ERA against them. He will be on a modest pitch count, but the bullpen should be fresh after Logan Allen tossed a career-high-tying seven innings Tuesday.

“We obviously needed as many outs from Logan as possible, given what we’re up against,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Freeland is coming off an odd start at the Baltimore Orioles on Friday after he gave up four solo homers in the first two innings before firing four shutout frames. He didn’t figure in the decision of the Rockies’ 6-5 victory.

In his only appearance against Cleveland, Freeland was a winner on June 7, 2017, with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in his rookie season.

Colorado’s Bradley Blalock was terrific in the series opener Monday, striking out seven over six scoreless innings, but Gordon was not. He gave up seven runs, six earned, in three innings as the Rockies dug a huge hole.

“I was behind to every single hitter and wasn’t helping the team at all,” said Gordon, who needed 71 pitches to retire nine batters. “When you get behind in the count, then you think you have to be perfect and the strike zone shrinks real little.”

Colorado has an opportunity to win its third series since the All-Star break, which would be one more than it had before it. The Rockies are 6-5 over their last 11 games, but an MLB-worst 28-79 for the season.

“We caught some adversity there, but it showed what these guys have been doing,” Colorado interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “All things considered, (Monday) was one of the best wins of the season.”

–Field Level Media