CLEVELAND -- There tend to be a few moments that ultimately matter when a ballgame is decided by one run. For the Guardians, one of those came in the second inning on Friday.
Guardians left fielder Angel Martínez picked up an outfield assist to end the top of second, when he fired a strike to cut down Red Sox catcher Mickey Gasper at home plate. It helped the Guardians win, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
At 96.8 mph, the throw was Martínez’s fastest-tracked assist in the Majors. The 24-year-old also hit an RBI single in the first inning, when the Guardians sent all nine hitters to the plate and scored four runs on six singles and one sacrifice fly.
Boston gained some momentum back when Gasper hit a two-out double in the second. It looked like Guardians starter Slade Cecconi would get out of the inning unscathed when Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a ground ball to shortstop Brayan Rocchio. But the ball got under Rocchio’s glove and trickled into left field, and Gasper got the green light to try to score.
Martínez corralled the ball and, after a slight pause, fired a strike on the fly to Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey, a throw which beat a sliding Gasper by several feet. It marked Martínez’s fifth outfield assist this season, a new career high after he logged four in 2025.
Martínez slotted in left field on Friday, where he has made his most appearances this season (37). That has been one of the effects of Steven Kwan adding center field to his tool kit this year. In 2025, Martínez saw his most time in center field (114 games), with just four combined appearances in the corners.
Kwan went on the bereavement/family medical emergency list on Friday, and he will miss the next three to seven days. Martínez delivered in his stead.