CLEVELAND -- Travis Bazzana was a few feet out of the batter's box and beginning to sprint to first base Friday night when he emphatically pumped his fists and let out a yell. He knew he crushed the fly ball carrying toward center field, but couldn’t be sure how far it would carry.
Bazzana gave some extra encouragement.
“I don't remember exactly [what I shouted],” the Guardians’ second baseman said, “but I was basically telling the ball to go.”
Off it went. Bazzana belted his first career home run on Friday, in his ninth career big league game, to help send the Guardians to a 6-4 win over the Twins at Progressive Field. The 23-year-old and 2024 No. 1 overall Draft pick's two-run shot capped off Cleveland's four-run first inning in the opener of the three-game series.
The long ball was part of Bazzana’s multifaceted contribution to Friday’s win, in which he went 1-for-4, tallied two RBIs, scored twice and notched two stolen bases that keyed his second time crossing the dish in the eighth inning.
“Really fun night for Travis,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
Bazzana (MLB Pipeline’s No. 13 overall prospect) worked a 1-1 count against Twins starter Connor Prielipp in the first inning. The lefty delivered him a slider, and Bazzana hit it a Statcast-projected 427 feet at 102.3 mph, with the ball landing just in front of the visiting bullpen beyond the right-center-field wall.
The emotion Bazzana showed as his drive carried out toward the center-field fence was befitting for a guy seeking his first career home run. But it was also par for the course for a guy who continuously looks to bring energy to the diamond.
“He's an animal,” starter Parker Messick said. “He loves the game of baseball. He takes it very seriously every at-bat. Every time he's on first base, every play in the infield, he's locked in. There's never a time where you'll catch him not playing the game hard. It's really fun to be his teammate.
“He's one of those guys that is super emotional when he gets a big swing. It's fun for me because I'm the same way on the mound. If I get a big punchout, I'm yelling. He's the same way as a hitter and it's something that I respect a lot about him.”
Bazzana had a previous close call in deep center at Progressive Field. He flied out to the warning track on April 29 against the Rays. Though it was raining in the first inning Friday, he knew with minimal wind the drive had a good chance of getting out.
It was a no-doubter. And with it, Bazzana became the 10th Australian-born player in MLB history to hit a home run, per the Guardians. He also took the dugout’s celebratory knight helmet for a spin for the first time, donning it backwards inadvertently.
“It was cool,” Bazzana said. “I was excited for that. Just probably looked silly, but that's the point.”
Bazzana made another big impact in the eighth inning, when the Guardians were looking to tack on to their 5-3 lead. After David Fry reached on a leadoff single, Bazzana hit a potential double-play ground ball.
Twins shortstop Brooks Lee gobbled the grounder up and forced Fry out at second, then threw to first to apparently complete the double play. But the Guardians successfully challenged that Bazzana had beat the throw, and moments later, Bazzana stole second. Then he and Brayan Rocchio (who reached first on a hit by pitch) teamed up for a double steal.
Austin Hedges followed Rocchio by lining an infield single that deflected off Minnesota pitcher Anthony Banda, and Bazzana barreled home from third to score an insurance run.
Bazzana entered Friday hitting .192 (5-for-26) through his first eight big league games, but he also carried a .382 on-base percentage behind seven walks in 34 plate appearances. He’s now recorded a hit in five of his past six games. He’s stolen six bases through nine games.
Bazzana is impacting the game in multiple ways, and his process and at-bats at the plate have been good even though the hits haven’t been falling in full force yet. With what we’ve seen thus far, it should only be a matter of time.
All the while, we can expect Bazzana to continue to bring energy on the diamond. He was appreciative of Messick's endorsement.
“I love the game and I care,” Bazzana said. “I play with passion. I want to play with fire. It's just how I've kind of always been, and I love that he would describe me that way. When I'm in a controlled aggression, that's at my best and I showed a little bit of that tonight.”