Cecconi boosts ailing rotation with 1st win as a Guardian

DETROIT — Slade Cecconi snapped to his left and let out a primal yell in the fourth inning on Friday at Comerica Park. In the batter’s box, Detroit’s Akil Baddoo flung his bat down to the ground, where his helmet soon met it.

Cecconi struck out Baddoo in that moment to escape a first-and-third, two-out Tigers threat — one of the few opportunities Detroit had against him on Friday. In the Guardians’ 3-1 win, Cecconi delivered his second impressive start in a Cleveland uniform in as many opportunities. He allowed one run on five hits (including a Spencer Torkelson solo homer) and two walks in six innings while striking out six.

“I thought he was outstanding again,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “One mistake, and outside of that he was special. It was weak contact, getting punchouts when he needed to, really efficient. It was just an excellent, excellent game by Slade.”

Cecconi (who struck out eight in five-plus innings in his season debut) generated 14 whiffs on 40 swings on Friday (35 percent rate). He needed just 84 pitches (56 strikes) to get through six innings.

Cecconi has come up and quickly made an impact for the Guardians, and his timing couldn’t be any better. With Ben Lively set to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery in the coming days, Cleveland must embrace a next-man-up mentality in its starting rotation.

Cecconi, meanwhile, has embraced a full-speed-ahead mentality over the past five months, after the Guardians acquired him from the D-backs in the Josh Naylor trade on Dec. 21. Coming off of a rough season with Arizona (6.66 ERA in 20 games, including 13 starts), he joined Cleveland welcoming the opportunity to make changes.

“When you have the season that I had the year before, you’re eager to make some good adjustments,” Cecconi said.

Cecconi said his first conversations with the Guardians after the trade were centered around his mechanics and areas that Cleveland identified with room for growth. He’s worked with the organization’s pitching group to engage his hips more to help his four-seam fastball have more of a vertical profile.

Cecconi’s four-seamer was his most-used pitch last season (54.9 percent), but opponents hit .329 against it, with a .582 slugging percentage.

“I knew going into the offseason that I wanted to add the sinker and the cutter and bring up the profile of my four-seam, because my four-seam was getting hit really hard,” Cecconi said. “I needed to make it a better pitch and diversify off it with some other fastballs, and they were thinking the exact same thing from the first call.”

Cecconi acknowledged there has been some trial and error along the way, but he was afforded a unique opportunity to work on things over the past two months. He suffered a left oblique strain in March and, after recovering, went through a Spring Training-like build-up.

It meant he was able to continue working closely with Cleveland’s pitching staff in controlled settings, without the pressure of a looming start.

“There’s a saying that I’ve been sticking to,” Cecconi said. “‘Because of this, something good will happen.’ No matter what happens, find a way to make the situation better and do whatever you can to maximize the time you’re given and the opportunity that you have.

“I had the opportunity to work directly, one on one, with no performance aspect needed for a little while. So we really were able to dive into things that are paying dividends now. You never want to get injured, never want to spend time on the IL, but I’m really happy with how we utilized the time that we had.”

It’s still early, of course, and even Cecconi acknowledged the work he’s done is never a finished product. There are always adjustments a pitcher can make and things to work on between outings. But it’s easy to be encouraged by the results he’s gotten to this point, certainly with the Lively news as a backdrop to his latest outing.

Cecconi has an opportunity ahead of him, and the Guardians will need more performances like Friday’s going forward.

“I think it’s pretty evident in his last couple of starts on the mound that he wants to compete,” catcher Bo Naylor said. “He wants the moment, and he wants to go out there and do the work that’s necessary for his guys. So all that coming together, it’s been really awesome being able to get to know him in that regard.”