CLEVELAND -- Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana issued an ABS challenge in the third inning on Monday, on a 2-1 four-seamer from Kirby Yates located up and away. The called strike was confirmed upon review, after which Bazzana turned to home-plate umpire Jonathan Parra and said, “My bad.”
Bazzana sliced Yates’ ensuing pitch into the left-center-field gap for a two-run double. All’s well that ends well, and it’s hard to fault him for the unsuccessful challenge. He’s shown incredible command and understanding of the strike zone early on in his big league career.
The Guardians beat the Angels, 7-2, at Progressive Field on Monday in the opener of a three-game series. Bazzana went 1-for-2 with two walks to continue what has been a historic start to his big league career in drawing the free pass.
Bazzana has drawn 12 walks through his first 11 career big league games. He’s only the second player in franchise history to pull off that feat, joining Milt Galatzer in 1933 (13). The 23-year-old is also only the fourth player in the Wild Card Era (since 1995) to do so, joining Seiya Suzuki (2022), Andy LaRoche (‘07) and Akinori Iwamura (‘07).
The Guardians recorded 10 walks as a team on Monday, which marked their most since they drew 14 on Aug. 20, 2024, against the Yankees. Rhys Hoskins (3) Steven Kwan (2) each had multiple walks along with the trained eye of Bazzana.
The Guardians posted a five-run third inning in which four of their first five batters walked: Chase DeLauter, Hoskins, Kyle Manzardo and David Fry. Daniel Schneemann then hit a two-run single before Bazzana drove in two with a double, which was the first of his career.