CLEVELAND — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie entered this season coming off of a sprained UCL, which he opted to rehab rather than repair with surgery last year. While his velocity has been down this season, McKenzie feels it's less about the elbow injury and more about getting back into a groove after missing most of last season dealing with that ailment and a shoulder injury.
Through his last three games, McKenzie has thrown 19 strikeouts over 16 innings pitched. He's given up five earned runs. Over the course of the season so far, he's posted a 2-2 record with a 3.97 ERA over 34 innings pitched with 30 strikeouts and a 1.44 WHIP . "I think health is paramount. I think me being able to go out there and throw 30, 32 starts has been at the forefront of my mind and just being able to go out there and compete for the guys and just put my best foot forward," McKenzie said.
"We're not necessarily worried about winning every single game. It's more about just putting our best foot forward and being able to win series, being able to win two out of three, being able to win three out of four and just prove that we're out here fighting, fighting until our last breath," McKenzie said."I think we played some good teams and being able to put up fights against them has been really cool.