[jksander]

April 2, 2026: It’s opening day on the road against our divisional rivals the Cleveland Guardians, who we get to face six times this month! Noah Schultz has been named our opening day starter, and the 22-year-old matched wits on the mound with Cleveland’s Reese Olson, 26, who last year went 7-13 for the Guardians with a 4.47 ERA through 165 innings over 32 starts. We took the lead in the top of the second with an RBI single by Miguel Vargas, and Brandon Valenzuela followed him with an RBI single to give us a 2-0 lead. But they tied it up in the bottom of the fourth when Jose Ramirez hit a two-run slam out of left. Cedanne Rafaela hit an RBI single to get us back into the lead in the top of the sixth, and Schultz got us through the sixth inning, stranding a runner on third to keep his lead. Julian Merryweather took over in the seventh inning with the one run lead still safe, but it didn’t last, as Bo Naylor hit a powerful flyball out of right field as the leadoff hitter, tying it at 3-3. But he got us through the rest of the inning and stranded two runners as we remained tied, Luis Sanchez taking over in the eighth. Sanchez was impressive, striking out two batters and stranding a walked runner on second, and with the score still tied Ryan Hensley came out in the bottom of the ninth as we hoped for extra innings. We got our wish as he got us out of the ninth with Tyler Freeman batting into a 6-4-3 double play, as this one went into the 10th inning knotted up 3-3. Unfortunately we weren’t able to score in the top of the inning, and in the bottom of the inning a sac-fly by Steven Kwan allowed the pinch-runner to score from third, winning this for Cleveland 4-3. Merryweather blew the save and Helsley took the loss despite not giving up an earned run (thanks, ghost runner!) but Schultz had a great debut, pitching six innings with three hits, a walk, two runs and seven strikeouts, throwing 88 pitches. Each team had seven hits, ours led by Rafaela, who had two hits, a run and an RBI, while Valenzuela had a pair of hits, a walk and an RBI.

April 4, 2026: Drew Rasmussen pitched his first game for us this afternoon against Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee, who won 13 games for the Guardians last year and was among their top pitchers. Rasmussen’s day did not start out well ... he loaded the bases in the bottom of the first and Johnathan Rodriguez hit a three-run triple that quickly asserted the home team’s dominance. His start has to be called a disaster, as he gave up three more runs in the inning before getting his final strikeout, digging us a 6-0 hole in less than 20 minutes. It’s too early in the year to start destroying the bullpen over a brutal first inning, so we kept him out there in the second and he settled down enough to put some actual work in. Noah Syndergaard took over in the bottom of the fifth with the score unchanged, but with one out he gave up a run off a single by Angel Genao, and a sac-fly by Brayan Rocchio continued to pile on. Our offense was abjectly terrible all day, and though our bullpen did well, it didn’t matter in an 8-0 blowout. Rasmussen’s ego definitely took a big hit, with seven hits, a walk and six runs (three earned) against him in four innings’ work ... striking out three along the way as an afterthought as he started his season at 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA. Eduard Bazardo got seven outs for us across three innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts in a solid turn, but we were outhit 11-7, and even with 10 total baserunners we couldn’t even bother to score. Valenzuela hit twice, while Kjerstad and Vargas each hit and walked.

April 5, 2026: Dylan Cease returned to our Sox in game three against the Guardians on the road, facing Bryce Miller, who only spent a third of his season last year with Cleveland, and he’s yet to win a game in their uniform. It was cold and windy all afternoon, and offense was nonexistant for both teams early on. Cease didn’t allow a single baserunner until the bottom of the fourth when he walked Will Castro, and he allowed his first hit in the fifth, a line drive double for Jose Ramirez which accounted for the game’s first runner in scoring position. With two outs, Cleveland finally broke the stalemate with an RBI single by Derek Hill, and just like that they held a 1-0 lead. Cease got us through the seventh and into the stretch trailing just by the one run, and we started to see chinks in their armor in the bottom of the inning when both Valenzuela and pinch-hitter Brooks Lee walked to get us into scoring position. Chase Meidroth walked the bases loaded with one out, and we tied the score on a wild pitch with the count 1-0 against Kjerstad, Lee and Meidroth each advancing! Kjerstad got a hit into the outfield, singling in Brooks Lee for the lead, though Meidroth tried for home and barely missed out on scoring himself as well. Bellinger struck out swinging and we went into the bottom of the eighth in unfamilar territory ... with a lead! Ryan Helsley took the ball to start the inning, getting two quick outs before Jonathan India hit a line drive double that drove in the tying run ... but they too got greedy, and we got Steven Kwan out at home plate, keeping the game tied into the top of the ninth. Tauchman walked with one out, and Valenzuela walked him into scoring position with two outs, but Brooks Lee popped out to short and we brought out closer Ben Joyce to try and get us into extras. He got two quick outs, but then let Jose Ramirez hit a single, followed immediately by a single for Bo Naylor that sent Ramirez to third, ninety feet away from walking this off. Jonathan Rodriguez stepped up to the plate ... and struck out swinging, sending us into extras for the second time this series!

In the top of the 10th, they walked He-seong Kim, with Brooks Lee as the pinch-runner at second. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and Chase Meidroth hit one into the left corner, driving in two runs with a single! Bellinger beat out an infield hit to take first, pushing Meidroth into scoring position with one out, and Tauchman almost did the same with two outs, but he was tagged out in a photo finish, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a two-run lead. With one out, Brayan Rocchio hit into a fielder’s choice, and we took the out at second, letting their pinch-runner score. Luis Sanchez took over with one out and the runner on first, and he got two quick outs around a hit by Tyler Freeman as we escaped this one with a 4-3 victory! Dylan Cease had a wickedly good start, with seven innings and just two hits, a walk, a run and eight strikeouts, but Helsley blew his save attempt, setting up Ben Joyce for the win and 23-year-old rule fiver Luis Sanchez for the save. Our bullpen depth definitely helped us in this one, and we matched them on hits with seven each -- Kjerstad leading the way with two hits and an RBI.