Bazzana lights up MLB with another homer
Australian Travis Bazzana continues to impress in his debut Major League Baseball season, scoring a home run in the lead-off spot for the Guardians.
The Sydney-born Bazzana has made an impression since he was promoted to the majors by Cleveland in late May.
Bazzana scores another homer. MLB
Earlier in the week, the 23-year-old tallied a career-high four RBIs to help the Guardians beat the New York Yankees, 9-4.
Cleveland won its first two games against the Yankees in the teams’ just-completed series but mustered just two hits in a 2-1 setback to close the series.
Against the Rangers on Saturday morning AEST, Bazzana delivered his first home run to start a game.
Bazzana’s blast had a 156km/h exit velocity and landed in the right-field seats to give Cleveland an early lead in the series opener.
But it wasn’t enough to hold off Texas as they came back to score a 3-2 victory.
Bazzana runs to first base during the fifth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers. Getty Images
As a squad, the Guardians recorded just two hits, not including Bazzana’s three and Austin Hedges’ two.
Even though they have a young roster, the Guardians hold a 1.5-game lead over the second-place Chicago White Sox in the division.
And the No.1 pick’s form has given the team a significant boost.
Following the loss to the Rangers, he improved to 13-for-41 (.317) in 11 games in the lead off role.
