Peyton Battenfield Proves Guardians Made Right Choice With Starting Rotation

Originally posted on FanNation Cleveland Baseball Insider
By Tommy Wild | Last updated 5/6/23

How about a round of applause for Peyton Battendield? Welcome to the rotation!

Battenfield was simply amazing on Friday night. He retired the first 17 batters he faced taking a perfect game into the fifth.

Unforntaully, he gave up a two-run homer to Max Kepler in the sixth inning and the Twins took the lead. It was one tiny mistake that ended up being costly due to Cleveland's hitting woes right now.

His final line was 7.0 innings pitched, seven strikeouts, two hits, no walks, and those two earned runs. Cleveland may have lost the game but Battenfield did everything he could to put them in a position to win.

Battenfield talked about what went right and wrong for him after the game:

"I went into the seventh, which is the deepest I've gone into a game the entire season. I thought I threw the ball well, made really one mistake and I really didn't think it was a mistake."

He went on to say that having a routine going into starts will help his confidence, now that he'll be in the rotation heading forward.

This start was going to be put under a microscope no matter what the outcome was because of who Battenfield replaced in the rotation. The organization announced earlier this week that they optioned Zach Plesac down to Triple-A while Battenfield remained in the rotation for the time being.

Battenfield has been solid in his first three starts, but putting him on the rotation full-time is definitely a risk with his inexperience as a starter. However, he proved all of that wrong and showed that the Guardians made the right decision.

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This article first appeared on FanNation Cleveland Baseball Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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