Giménez, Francona unite Guardians with much-needed sparks

CLEVELAND -- The Guardians needed a jolt of life into their dugout after a long, difficult road trip. Not only did it include trading three of their prominent veterans, but the club also went 2-5 on the two-city trip and was no-hit on Tuesday night.

On Friday evening, Guardians manager Terry Francona and second baseman Andrés Giménez brought the spark the club was desperately looking for.

Francona had to watch the majority of Cleveland’s 4-2 victory over the White Sox from his office at Progressive Field, as he was ejected for the 49th time of his career and second in a week. Brayan Rocchio had hit what he thought was a double to right field in the fourth inning, but after a replay review, he was ruled out, as his hand popped off second base as the tag was applied.

Francona did not agree with the call and made sure home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman and third base umpire Malachi Moore (who made the initial call at second) understood his opinion.

“First of all, they gave them too much time [to challenge the play]. Way too much time,” Francona said. “That’s why I thought [the umpire] was going to their dugout to tell them you can’t challenge. So, then when they overturned it, I let Bruce explain to me, and as I’m going back, I just yelled at Malachi. I said, ‘You've got to get that right.’

“When you make a call that hideous, you can’t be arrogant. You can’t be throwing your hands up in the air. He was two feet from there. He needs to practice more. That’s as bad of a call as you can make. If you’re going to do that, you can’t just turn your back and walk away. You’ve got to have an answer.”

At the time, the score was knotted at 2. The Guardians could’ve had a runner on second with no outs, but the overturned call sent Rocchio back to the dugout, too. Francona turned his back and went down the steps toward Cleveland’s clubhouse, but as he left the field, his bench was uniting behind him.

“Obviously, you don’t see [Francona] get that upset that often,” Giménez said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Seeing him, it put us all even more together. I saw after he got ejected, all the guys were kind of fighting a little bit from the bench and, in a way, that helped us get going and kept us united, as well.”

The Guardians needed any reason to come back together. Their clubhouse looks drastically different now than it did a week ago at this time. Not only are Aaron Civale, Amed Rosario and Josh Bell on different teams, but Josh Naylor and Tyler Freeman are also on the injured list.

The clubhouse wants to believe it still has a chance of reclaiming a division title this season, but had the wind taken out of its sails with the past week of news. This was a moment that reminded them all they’re still pulling in the same direction.

The next inning, Steven Kwan got a leadoff single, bringing Giménez to the plate. Giménez has never been afraid to put the bunt down. Even when he hit lower in the order, he was always quick to try to put the bunt down, even if his coaching staff would’ve told him to do otherwise.

In this case, with José Ramírez behind him, he wanted to move Kwan to second. So, Giménez squared to bunt. After a ball and two foul tips, he had to pivot. Instead, he ended up hitting a two-run homer of White Sox starter Mike Clevinger.

“I was really mad because I wanted to move [Kwan] to second and [have] Clevinger face [Ramírez],” Giménez said. “But, it didn’t work out and something else worked.”

“It’s good because he’s going up there, looking like he wants to bunt,” Francona said. “He was swinging the bat tonight as good as anybody. I’m glad he didn’t get it down.”

Giménez's two-run blast was one of three extra-base hits for him on the night -- a career-high in a single game. Entering the opener against Chicago, Giménez had gone 1-for-his-last-21 with nine strikeouts. And with Cleveland’s hottest hitter, Naylor, now out for at least three to six weeks, there wouldn’t be a better time for Giménez to hit his stride than now.

“He’s been kind of the most consistent hitter throughout the season, the one who brings in all the runs,” Giménez said of Naylor. “Obviously, it’s difficult, but also, we have a group of young guys who can help us in that way and we’re going to keep going that way.”