CLEVELAND -- Over just two innings on Saturday, two-thirds of the Guardians' starting outfield and a pair of players who are crucial to Cleveland’s lineup were forced to exit against the Tigers due to injury.
Chase DeLauter and Angel Martínez both departed Saturday’s matinee at Progressive Field after taking one at-bat each. DeLauter exited immediately after he hit a single in the bottom of the first inning, while Martínez was replaced in left field by Steven Kwan entering the top of the third.
The Guardians later announced that DeLauter exited with a right rib cage contusion, stemming from a collision with the right-field wall in the first inning. Martínez exited with a left foot contusion, for which X-rays came back negative.
DeLauter grabbed his side as he pulled into first base following his single off Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, and Daniel Schneemann pinch-ran for him. He also appeared to be in discomfort in the top of the first, when he crashed into the right-field wall hard while attempting to catch an eventual double by Gleyber Torres.
DeLauter remained hunched over on the warning track for several moments before he returned to his position. Martínez, meanwhile, fouled Skubal’s first pitch of the game off his left foot. He received attention from the Guardians’ training staff and initially remained in the game before his eventual exit an inning later.
Martínez did not look 100 percent when he ran out a ground ball to first baseman Spencer Torkelson in the first. He recently dealt with a mild left mid-foot strain, which caused him to miss the Guardians’ game against the Red Sox on May 31 after the issue forced him to exit early one game prior.
DeLauter has remained extremely durable this season, after a Minor League career that was marked by several injury setbacks. Saturday marked his 65th game of the campaign, which is his career high at any professional level. His previous high was 57 games in 2023, when he finished the season with Double-A Akron.
DeLauter played 42 regular-season games in the Minors last year, when he missed extended time recovering from March core muscle surgery and a July surgery to repair a right hamate fracture. As he has remained durable this year, he has established himself as a key cog within the Guardians’ lineup.
Fifty-six of DeLauter’s 61 starts have come in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots of the lineup. He entered Saturday with a .259/.335/.406 slash line, 12 doubles, seven home runs and 34 RBIs with 28 walks and 36 strikeouts.
Martínez, likewise, has been key to the Guardians offensively. He entered Saturday slashing .240/.277/.444 with 11 home runs, which leads the team and is tied for his career high.