This unheralded Guardians reliever is turning into a bullpen weapon 

On Monday night, the Guardians found themselves in a save situation on the road after scraping two runs across in the top of the tenth inning against the New York Mets. 

With the game on the line (as well as Cleveland’s first-ever win at Citi Field), the bullpen doors swung open and out came… Nic Enright? 

Imagine seeing that at the beginning of the year. 

Although the Mets managed to score the ghost runner at second base, Enright handled the rest of the scoring threat and locked down Cleveland’s 7-6 win for his first career save. 

It may be a sign of things to come.

Nic Enright is turning into a bullpen weapon for the Guardians

After Monday’s outing, Enright now has a 2.01 ERA in 22 1/3 innings this year along with that aforementioned save. While he didn’t make the team out of spring training, he earned his first call-up at the end of May and stayed on the roster for most of May and June before being sent back down to Triple-A despite having a 2.08 ERA. 

He was called back up in the middle of July and has become a bullpen mainstay in the wake of Emmanuel Clase’s suspension. 

Enright’s appeared in four games since Clase left the roster, and has racked up a win, hold and save in that time period. 

He also has an incredible story, as he was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2022 and underwent four rounds of immunotherapy last offseason. 

“I’ve gone through a lot of adversity -- just everything that has gone on,” Enright said after the win, per MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. “I reflect on those moments. I think that helps being able to slow the game down because it hasn’t exactly been a red-carpet rollout for my career trajectory.”

While his path to MLB was influenced by something out of his control, he’s done a great job handling the things in his control on a big league mound. 

After getting two quick outs to open the inning on Monday, he gave up an RBI single to Brett Baty before getting Luis Torrens to fly out to end the game. 

At this point, it seems like Enright has joined Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis in Stephen Vogt’s circle of trust. Gaddis and Enright have both picked up their first career saves in the time since Clase’s suspension, while Smith has thrown 4 1/3 scoreless innings since he whiffed on his save attempt. 

The Guardians have clawed their way back into the postseason picture thanks to contributions from players up and down the roster. Monday’s win was no exception.