The bats have finally woken up for the Guardians!
The Guardians finally hit their first home run of the season, in dramatic fashion. In the first inning of Sunday’s contest against the Kansas City Royals, Oscar Mercado hit a monster grand slam which blew the game wide open. Mercado’s grand slam came on the heels of a six-run first inning by the Guardians.
Mercado joins a shortlist of Cleveland players who have hit a grand slam in the first three games of the regular season. In recent memory, Yonder Alonso hit a grand slam against the Seattle Mariners back in 2018. The year before that, Francisco Lindor hit a game-clinching grand slam against the Texas Rangers. But after those two players, you have to go back almost 40 years to see this happen.
The other players to accomplish this feat were Cory Snyder in 1987, Woodie Held in 1959, and Roger Maris in 1957.
Mercado is also the tenth player in club history who has a grand slam and a triple in the same game, showing why today has been so special for the right fielder.
The Guardians' offense had been struggling through the first two games to say the least. The team had 13 hits but only scored a combined one run in those games thanks to a José Ramírez RBI in the season-opener. The team has also been horrible with runners in scoring position. But with the sun shining and the temperature considerably warmer than those previous games, the offense finally picked up.
Hopefully, Mercado’s grand slam will finally get the bats going beyond today’s game. The Guardians will finish up their series against Kanas City on Monday afternoon, before traveling to Cincinnati to open up a two-game set against the Reds.
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