How 'sweet' it is: Manzardo breaks out of slump with Allegheny River HR

PITTSBURGH -- Asked to describe his swimming prowess, Kyle Manzardo used a legend for scale.

“I’m no [Michael] Phelps. I can get around all right in the water,” Manzardo said with a chuckle.

Evidently, that applies with his baseball game, too. Manzardo crushed a solo homer off Paul Skenes on Saturday, in the Guardians’ 3-0 win over the Pirates, that landed in the Allegheny River behind right field on a couple of bounces.

Manzardo’s homer marked the first time a Cleveland player homered into the river since PNC Park opened in 2001, in the team’s 26th game at the ballpark. It was the 82nd instance overall.

“Anytime you hit a ball that leaves the stadium, it feels sweet,” Manzardo said. “I can’t say that I've done something like that many times, but happy it happened.”

Manzardo had not yet relived the homer on video by the time he met with the media postgame, but it was a crucial swing for the Guardians in Saturday’s win. Cleveland led 1-0 when he drove a first-pitch splitter from Skenes in the seventh inning a Statcast-projected 411 feet over the right-field bleachers.

It was also a big swing for Manzardo, who entered this weekend’s series against Pittsburgh in a 2-for-23 stretch, dating to Cleveland’s series against Chicago last week. The homer was his fifth this season and his first since April 10, against the White Sox.

As a lefty with power in his bat, Manzardo is a key presence in the heart of the Guardians’ order. So is Nolan Jones, who also had a big game on Saturday while making his first start of the season in the No. 2 spot in the order. The right fielder reached base three times by going 2-for-3 with a double, a single and a walk.

Jones entered Saturday hitting just .140/.275/.209 in 17 games this season, his first back with the Guardians after they reacquired him from the Rockies on March 22. He’s also had some tough luck, as his underlying numbers show, that suggest he’s due for a turnaround.

Nolan Jones advanced metrics (entering Saturday)
Average exit velocity: 94.5 percent (95th percentile)
Hard hit %: 59.3 percent (95th percentile)
Chase rate: 23.1 percent (74th percentile)
BB rate: 15.7 percent (91st percentile)

“We all want hits. It’s the name of the game, right?” Jones said on Friday. “But trying to just keep doing what I'm doing. I feel like I'm hitting the ball really hard. I feel like I'm having good at-bats. And I think it's just sticking with it and being patient.

“We’ve got [142 games left], so I think just sticking with what I'm doing. I feel like it's working and the hits are going to start coming.”

Jones was proved prescient. He singled in his first plate appearance Saturday, on a line drive to center that had a 96.0 mph exit velocity. He grounded into a 6-3 double play in his second plate appearance, in the third inning, on a 107.1 mph ground ball to shortstop Jared Triolo.

His double off the top of the right-center-field wall in the sixth had a 102.8 mph exit velocity.

There has been some swing and miss in Jones’ game this season. He entered Saturday with a 31.4 percent strikeout rate (10th percentile). But he’s simultaneously hitting the ball hard and taking his walks. That’s a tried and true recipe for success.

He’s also healthy, after playing just 79 games with Colorado a year ago while going on the 10-day injured list twice with a low-back strain.

“My body was the main concern of mine, I felt like last year,” Jones said. “Even when I came back and I would square a ball up, I wasn't hitting it very hard. I couldn't really do it consistently either day to day. And so I think that over this three-week stretch of being able to hit the ball hard … I haven’t been getting hits, but being able to show up and feel good and put good swings on balls and hit the ball hard keeps me positive.”

Jones’ performance on Saturday came with his mom, dad, fiancée and 8-month-old daughter in attendance, as well as his fiancée’s friends and family. Jones is from Langhorne, Pa., across the state near its border with New Jersey.

“Obviously, a slow start for me,” Jones said. “I’m trying to do what I can. I feel like it’s starting to come together a little bit. I’m hitting the ball a lot harder. It’s great. I get to look up and see my daughter and my family. It’s cool.”