The Indians are willing to live with bouts of famine, given the kind of feast Mark Reynolds can provide when his bat greets a baseball.
On Wednesday, Reynolds certainly showed his flaws, but he ultimately dropped a substantial amount of jaws with a mammoth home run that sent Cleveland to 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays in 11 innings at Rogers Centre.
His leadoff blast in the final frame off Sergio Santos — whether measured by feet or meters — provided a glimpse into the kind of power he can provide.
“That’s what he has,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He’s going to miss sometimes, but when he does [connect], it’s a game-changer. It was tonight.”
Reynolds’ solo home run overcame a ninth-inning letdown for Indians closer Chris Perez, who blew a save chance by yielding a game-tying shot to slugger Jose Bautista. Tribe starter Ubaldo Jimenez turned in a strong six-inning outing, and the rest of Cleveland’s relief corps did their part, giving the Indians their first 2-0 start to a season since 2008.
It has been a stellar start for an Indians team that navigated through the spring fueled by a mix of enthusiasm and optimism.
That is often the case for teams that undergo dramatic offseason chances. Cleveland brought in Francona, and then a wave of players via free agency and trades. Reynolds, who signed a one-year contract with the Tribe in December, likes to joke that the rest of the free agents followed him to Cleveland.
All kidding aside, Reynolds has enjoyed being a part of the Tribe’s transformation.
“We came into camp with a lot of optimism,” Reynolds said. “Obviously, every team has optimism in Spring Training. Everybody is 0-0 and everybody has a chance. It’s only two games, but it feels good to be 2-0, rather than 0-2. At the same time, we’ve got to keep it in perspective. We’ve got 160 games to go and a lot can happen.”
The Indians initially signed Reynolds — one of the game’s premiere right-handed sluggers — to be their first baseman. Nick Swisher was in the original plans as the team’s right fielder, but he was happy to move to first when Cleveland signed outfielder Michael Bourn. The position shuffle pushed Reynolds to the regular designated hitter duties.
More important than where Reynolds plays is how he hits.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
