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Guardians turn to Cade Smith to close games as Emmanuel Clase works through shoulder injury
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- Guardians turn to Cade Smith to close games as Emmanuel Clase works through shoulder injury
CLEVELAND — The Guardians currently have two closers at the back end of their bullpen.
Emmanuel Clase , 27, is a three-time Major League Baseball all-star and a two-time Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year recipient. But he has struggled with discomfort in his right shoulder and consistency during the first 26 games of the 2025 season.
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Cade Smith , 25, has the stuff to be an all-star, appears to be fully healthy and continues to impress in his second season in the majors.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt called on Smith to close out the first game of a Saturday, April 26, doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox , and the 6-foot-5 right-hander worked around a single and a walk to finish off a 5-4 victory .
Clase retired the Red Sox in order in the eighth inning with two strikeouts in his first outing since April 20 when he threw 30 pitches and allowed three earned runs, four hits and a walk during a blown save against the Pittsburgh Pirates . The Guardians won that game 5-4 in 10 innings.
"He was Clase," Vogt said Saturday. "It was great. I talked with him before the game, [and] said, 'Hey, it's been five days, [you] didn't go on a rehab, we don't want to put you on the IL, we want to keep you active, probably look for a little lower leverage just to get you back on your feet. And he was great with it, and that's the teammate he is, and he'll be right back in that closer role."
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Smith is 3-for-3 in save opportunities this season with a 1.29 ERA, seven holds, 17 strikeouts, six walks and 10 hits allowed in 14 innings.
"We know he [Smith] can handle it," Vogt said Saturday. "... Definitely, it's great when you have four-plus guys and [Paul] Sewald has been a closer in his past, so you have five guys in your bullpen that you trust to throw the ninth. It's a nice weapon to have."
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Cade Smith (36) throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox on April 26, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
The 6-foot-2 Clase is 4-for-6 in save opportunities this season with a 3-0 record, a 7.15 ERA, one hold, 11 strikeouts, three walks and 20 hits allowed in 11⅓ innings.
Clase said Saturday through Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero he has felt shoulder discomfort going back to spring training in Arizona and during a March 31-April 2 series in San Diego , but pitched through it and didn't notify Vogt and staff members until after the April 20 outing in Pittsburgh.
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"I was able to communicate that in Arizona," Clase said through Rivero. "I felt like I was a little sore, too, and then it flared up again after the Pittsburgh game and I was able to communicate to the manager and he gave me the couple of days to recover.
"... I felt like after Pittsburgh, I needed to say something. The team was able to respond."
Clase rested for five days and then struck out Red Sox batters Kristian Campbell and Triston Casas before getting Blake Sabol to ground out April 26.
"It looked like Emmanuel Clase to me," Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said of the AL saves leader in 2022 (42), 2023 (44) and 2024 (47).
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox on April 26, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Said Clase: "God willing, there's going to be many more outings like that. So, it feels good to be back to feeling more like I am 100% — like I have felt in the past."
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Opponents are hitting .400 against Clase this season and .200 against Smith.
Relievers Tim Herrin , Hunter Gaddis , Clase and Smith each worked an inning in relief of Ben Lively (five innings, six hits, four earned runs, three walks, four strikeouts).
"Obviously a doubleheader, beginning of 13 [games] in a row, we needed him [Lively] to give us at least five, and he did," Vogt said. "He was gritty, kept us in the game, made pitches when he had to. That last inning was huge, just to be able to get through two more hitters. That's Ben. One bad pitch or two bad pitches, and other than that he was outstanding.
"... We use a lot of numbers and I'm very big on numbers as you guys have seen, but there's some things you just can't measure, and Ben's tenacity and his competitiveness. He's also a really good pitcher and he knows how to hit spots. He knows how to sequence and he just finds his way to get us a bunch of outs every time he goes out."
Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan (38) hits a double against the Boston Red Sox on April 26, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu tagged Lively for a three-run home run in the first inning, but the Guardians rallied for four runs in the first off Tanner Houck . Steven Kwan and Nolan Jones smacked doubles, José Ramírez hit an RBI single, Carlos Santana lifted a sacrifice fly and Gabriel Arias and Daniel Schneemann contributed RBI singles.
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"We jumped on the split," Vogt said. "It was up a little bit in the zone and we were able to jump on that and a couple sweepers as well. Our guys answer. We talk about it, it's our identity. When we get punched, we want to punch right back, and they did. And that was huge to string a bunch of base runners and hitters together and just an outstanding inning for us to get right back in the game."
Rafael Devers tied the score 4-4 with a solo home run in the third inning and then Kwan gave the Guardians the lead for good with a single in the sixth off Brennan Bernardino that scored Will Wilson.
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox on April 26, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Doug Nikhazy struggles in MLB debut as Red Sox split doubleheader
Guardians right-handed pitcher Doug Nikhazy struggled through three innings in his MLB debut and the Red Sox won the second game 7-3 .
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Nikhazy struck out three and allowed six earned runs, six walks, five hits, a wild pitch and a straight steal of home.
"Obviously, it didn't go the way Doug wanted it to, but we saw a lot of good things in there though," Vogt said. "... He is a competitor and he is going to pitch in this league for a long time."
Shortstop Trevor Story singled in Devers in the first and the Red Sox scored three runs in the second and two runs in the third off Nikhazy.
Jarren Duran singled in Campbell, Devers doubled in Durran and Rob Refsnyder worked a bases-loaded walk to bring in Devers in the second. Duran added a triple off Nikhazy in the third that scored Carlos Narvaez and then stole home.
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Guardians reliever Kolby Allard limited the Red Sox to one run and six hits over six innings.
"That was super impressive, [64] pitches in six innings," Vogt said. "He was attacking the zone, living ahead [in the count] and getting weak contact. Kolby was outstanding."
The Guardians scored three runs off Walker Buehler in the fourth with a Angel Martinez single that scored Arias and a two-run home run by Jhonkensy Noel , his first of the season.
Arias left the game after the sixth inning with what Vogt described as "left hip irritation."
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians bullpen features two closers: Cade Smith and Emmanuel Clase
