Amed Rosario making hard contact without positive results: Guardians takeaways

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Amed Rosario keeps hitting the ball hard with no results.

“I can feel it in my hands when I hit it hard,” said Rosario. “I feel like it’s gone (home run). Then it dies at the warning track. I just, say, ‘wow.’”

In Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park, Rosario hit a ball to the track in left field in the sixth inning that looked like it was headed for the seats. It turned into a long out. He was robbed of extra bases in the eighth when right fielder Daz Cameron ran down his ball deep in the gap.

It was the second time Cameron has robbed Rosario. In a 4-2 loss to the Tigers on May 22 at Progressive Field, Cameron, this time playing center field, went up against the wall to deny Rosario of another extra base hit.

Rosario went into Tuesday night’s game against the Royals hitting .232 (36-for-156) with 10 RBI in 36 games. Last year Rosario was hitting .248 (33-for-133) with two homers and 11 RBI after 39 games. He ended the year as Cleveland’s most consistent hitter, batting .282 (155-for-550) with 25 doubles, six triples, 11 homers and 57 RBI.

MLB changed the composition of the baseball slightly in 2021 to reduce home runs in the hopes that more balls would be put in play to increase the action on the field. It turned out, because of production problems, that all the balls used last year were not of the same vintage.

In 2022, however, MLB sent a memo to all 30 teams in March that only balls produced in 2021 would be used in 2022. That and the use of humidors by all 30 teams has seemingly played a role in reducing the number of home runs.

Rosario said he might have been victimized by the new ball, but his Statcast numbers are mixed.

According to baseballsavant, Rosario’s hard hit percentage has dropped from 43.5% last year to 38.6% this year. Last year he hit .326 against four-seam fastballs, but this year he’s hitting .194. Against sliders, however, Rosario is hitting .333 this year compared to .217 last year. His exit velocity is 88.4 mph compared to 88.8 mph last year.

Manager Terry Francona said Rosario has done a good job controlling his frustration.

“As long as he doesn’t overdo it, he’ll be fine,” said Francona.

In Rosario’s first three at-bats Tuesday night against the Royals, he tripled, doubled and flew out to the track in right field.

Aaron Civale update

Francona said Aaron Civale, currently on the 15-day injured list, had blood drained from his strained left glute muscle Tuesday.

“The MRI revealed he had a little pocket of blood in his glute,” said Francona. “The doctors described it as a football injury where you just don’t fall, you scrape it, too. So they’re going to aspirate that and it should really speed up his progress.”

Civale slipped and fell while attempting to cover first base in his last start against the Tigers on May 20. He was charged with an error on the play in the seventh inning and removed from the game. He was placed on the IL on May 22.

He was scheduled to make a rehab start on Tuesday, but he didn’t feel like he was ready after throwing a bullpken session.

• Headed into Tuesday night’s game, the rotation had recorded 11 quality starts in its last 13 apperances. The rotation has 20 quality starts for the season, ranking third behind Houston (22) and Toronto (21) in the AL.

Adjustment period

Trevor Stephan, in his last five games, has allowed five earned runs on nine hits over three innings. He started the year by going 2-0 in nine appearances in April without allowing a run and striking out 10.

“I feel I got out of the gate hot and maybe the league made some adjustments and I haven’t been making the pitches I need to,” said Stephan. “Some of it is hitting it where they’re not and some of it is that I’m not pitching as well as I did in the first month.

“It’s probably a little bit of both. . .It’s all about making better pitches.”

Stephan has seen his ERA jump from 1.69 to 4.00 in his last five appearances.

“In general his splitter became such a weapon that he kind of fell in love with it,” said Francona. “Instead of going straight down, it started to work its way (sideways). He got away from throwing his slider.”

Francona said the goal is to get Stephan back to throwing three pitches and putting his fastball in better spots in the strike zone.

“We’ve given him a lot,” said Francona. “Here’s a Rule 5 kid last year and now he’s pitching in the eighth inning. To think it’s going to be seamless probably isn’t fair.”

• The G’s bullpen went into Tuesday night’s game with a 2.32 ERA (eight earned runs in 32 1/3 innings) since May 14. During that stretch the opposition is hitting .188 (21-for-112) against the pen.

Fire down below

Will Benson homered and drove in two runs at Class AAA Columbus beat Toledo, 9-1, Sunday. Bryan Lavastida, who opened the season with the G’s, homered and drove in two runs as well. Left fielder Will Brennan, just promoted from Class AA Akron, went 1-for-4 with two RBI. Tobias Myers started and threw four scoreless innings, while walking four and allowing three hits. Myers, Aaron Pinto, Tim Herrin, Justin Garza and Ian Gibault combined on a six-hitter with six walks and five strikeouts.

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