CLEVELAND -- Look up and down the Guardians’ lineup and you’ll find encouraging signs within a young cast of hitters who are developing before our eyes on the game’s highest stage.
The emergence of Angel Martínez and the potential breakout happening before our eyes continues to be one of the most electric.
Martínez belted a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning on Saturday to send the Guardians to a 7-4 win over the Reds at Progressive Field in Game 2 of the Ohio Cup. It marked the 24-year-old’s eighth home run this season, a figure he has reached in only 43 games.
Martínez went deep 11 times in 139 games in 2025. What’s more, the switch-hitter has hit six home runs from the left side of the plate this season, to match his total from last year.
Kyle Manzardo led off the seventh with a single, which the Guardians were in danger of wasting after Travis Bazzana and Steven Kwan struck out. Martínez got a 2-1 curveball from Reds right-hander Pierce Johnson and hit it a Statcast-projected 395 feet with a 102.9 mph exit velocity over the right-field wall.
Martínez finished 2-for-4. He picked up a hustle double in the sixth on a ground ball through the vacated left side of the infield.
Kwan finished 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored out of the No. 6 spot of the lineup. Saturday marked his first start not hitting leadoff since June 18, 2022.