CLEVELAND, Ohio — Prior to Wednesday’s game against Minnesota, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was asked how hard it is for a young player, especially somebody who is not seeing regular playing time, to come off the bench late in a game and find success as a pinch hitter.
Vogt said his job as a manager is to find the right matchups at the right time and hopefully put that player in the best position to succeed. That can be hard when a guy has not seen live pitching in 3-4 days.
“I don’t like pitch hitting,” Vogt admitted. “I can’t stand it, but it’s stuff you have to do. Just like I don’t like pulling the starter early, but sometimes you have to do it.”
Just a few hours after making those remarks, Vogt seemed to push all the right buttons, sending pinch-hitters Kyle Manzardo and Will Brennan to the plate in the 10th inning and watching both come through with RBI base hits as the Guardians rallied for a 5-4 walk-off win against the Twins in extra innings.
Guardians pinch hitters rank second in the American League with 20 RBI and fifth in slugging percentage at .371. Brennan’s .455 average ranks second in the majors among pinch hitters with at least 10 plate appearances.
“I know how hard it is to pinch hit,” Vogt said. “It’s almost an impossible task to come off the bench and face somebody throwing that hard.”
But Brennan said preparation and readiness have been the key to Cleveland’s pinch-hitting success all season.
“We have a little slogan on the bench,” Brennan said. “Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.”
Perhaps Vogt’s best move Wednesday was deciding not to pinch hit for Brayan Rocchio, who had struck out in three previous plate appearances, but ended the game with a walk-off single against Minnesota’s Michael Tonkin in the 10th.
“We do what we can, but for him to step up in that moment and get it done for all three of those guys in that inning, they didn’t try and do too much … and that was just a lot of fun.”
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