Terry Francona encourages young Guardians to ‘stay in the moment’ during pennant race
CLEVELAND — The calendar flipped to September on Thursday and Terry Francona woke up as the manager of a first-place Guardians team filled with young players.
Third baseman José Ramírez, first baseman Josh Naylor and starting pitcher Shane Bieber were the only Guardians in Thursday’s lineup against the Baltimore Orioles with playoff experience from recent Cleveland teams that played in October.
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Francona held a team meeting about two hours before first pitch Thursday and advised his players to “stay in the moment.”
“I just felt like, it’s September 1st and I woke up this morning and it’s a pretty cool date,” Francona said with a smile. “I just wanted them to remember hey, it’s not supposed to be easy. We’re playing against these teams that are built for October and we’re kind of holding our own. I just wanted some of them to stay in the moment.
“There’s a reason we talk about playing how we do, because you can’t push a button. So just rely on who we are and what we believe in and try to make teams play at our pace. Then, win or lose, learn and move on to the next day. Do that good enough and you keep playing.”
The Guardians — the youngest team in MLB — entered Thursday with a 68-60 record, 1.5 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins and five games ahead of the Chicago White Sox.
The Guardians ended the evening with a 3-0 loss to the Orioles after Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle hit solo home runs off of Bieber.
The Twins (67-62) did not play Thursday and are one game behind and the White Sox (65-66) won to sit at four games behind.
The Orioles shut out the Guardians for the second night in a row, with right-hander Jordan Lyles pitching seven shutout innings Wednesday and right-hander Kyle Bradish pitching seven shutout innings Thursday.
Lyles limited the Guardians to four hits Wednesday and Bradish allowed two hits Thursday. Orioles relievers were solid in both games.
The Guardians were shut out for the fourth time in the past 10 games after being shut out six times in the first 119 games.
Another intriguing arm:Guardians to finally get glimpse of pitching prospect Cody Morris as rosters expand
“I thought their guy pitched really well," Francona said of Bradish. "He’s got kind of a unique release point, he’s got good stuff. I also think we’re not certainly swinging the bats like we can or we will. We’ve just got to fight through it.”
Mullins' homer came on the first pitch of the game and cleared the right-field fence.
"It happens from time to time," Bieber said of the homers. "You hope it's not a leadoff homer on the first pitch of the game, but that was the case today. First pitch change-up to Santander and he put a good swing on it. Found myself on my heels a little bit but just tried to make the most of it and go out there and compete. I'm most frustrated with the third homer to Mountcastle, it was a 1-0 slider, a little bit predictable and just not that great of a pitch."
Bieber struck out 11 in seven innings, but "made three mistakes on a fastball, change-up and a slider," according to Francona.
Terry Francona excited about a pennant race
Francona said he encouraged his players to "embrace" the moments that are to come in September.
“That's part of why I talked to them," Francona said. "I woke up this morning and I was like ‘Man, big game,’ or you know. Like, I told them, I don’t know how many guys in this room have played through a major league pennant race. That doesn’t mean we can’t win. It just means you haven’t done it before. And they have really been good about not backing down from challenges.
"We’re facing some really good pitching coming in this weekend. Just want to keep it in smaller segments so they don't feel they're getting bombarded.”
Bieber said Francona's chat with the players was quick.
"He's always really good about that and conveying a good, strong message," Bieber said. "I know there might be a little bit of frustration just after tonight's game, but we'll go home, get some rest and come back at it tomorrow with the same mentality that we've started with since April. Like I said, I'm excited to see how we bounce back, because I know we will."
Rookie left fielder Steven Kwan and rookie right fielder Oscar Gonzalez are enjoying their first pennant race with the Guardians. So are shortstop Amed Rosario and second baseman Andrés Giménez.
“Having the [veteran] guys like [Jason] Giambi, that’s special,” Francona said. “We’ve been really fortunate here having guys that add meaningful, like really meaningful [leadership].
“We're so young that when guys get called up, their buddies are here to kind of show them in the right direction. And I’ve seen that a lot. That’s been good. Kwan’s a rookie — not in my eyes — but I know he is. When you tell him something once, it gets done. I hope the young guys are listening to him. This kid, I wish he’d get four hits a night, that’s not realistic, but he does everything right. It’s fun to compete when you have people like that, that care.”
Francona is certainly invested and has taken five Cleveland teams to the playoffs, including the 2016 World Series team that Ramirez played on.
He said he looks at the standings every day.
“Our job revolves around it,” Francona said with a smile. “But I think you’ve got to play your games first. I’m not a mathematician, but when you win, things seem to go better. When we lose, I want everybody to lose. Haven't figured out a way to do that.”
Guardians recall Ernie Clement
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Guardians recalled utility man Ernie Clement from Triple-A Columbus, activated relief pitcher Cody Morris off the 60-day injured list and designated for assignment relief pitcher Anthony Castro.
“We went over a lot of different things,” Francona said. “Because September’s different now than it used to be [with only two roster additions instead of potentially 15].
“The idea is that because Ernie gives us so much flexibility, we may be able to do things during a game, and they don’t always come to fruition, but at least you know if this happens we can do this. And then keep some of the younger guys still playing as opposed to sitting. Ernie’s at a little different phase in where he’s at, so he can handle being the extra guy.”
The decision to bring up Morris and Clement means that highly regarded prospects George Valera, Brayan Rocchio, Gabriel Arias and Bo Naylor will remain in Columbus with the Clippers.
Anthony Gose update
Guardians relief pitcher Anthony Gose remains out, but Francona is impressed with his attitude.
“He got that injection,” Francona said. “I need to get the name. It’s a gel. The idea is to hopefully when he gets to this point he can have some lubricant and his bones don’t feel like they’re banging together. He needs to have 3-4-5 days down because that stuff is originally kind of thick and it feels kind of full. So it’s been 2-3 days. He’s got a few more of that and then he’ll go out and start ramping up again and see how it feels. If it’s not feeling right, then it’s probably time to get another opinion and see what could possibly be next."
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Beaven on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Terry Francona implores Guardians to ‘stay in the moment’ in September
