The Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees began their three game series in New York. The game looked to be a nail biter with some back and forth between the two squads until Cleveland ultimately took an insurmountable lead.
Joey Cantillo had a short start for Cleveland. Cantillo only pitched 4.0 innings on 91 pitches. He allowed all four of the Yankees runs on six hits and three walks. Cantillo struck out two batters before turning things over to the Guards bullpen. Colin Holderman, Tim Herrin, and Hunter Gaddis all threw strong scoreless innings.
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The Guardians put the first run of the game on the board in the top of the third inning. Patrick Bailey slapped a triple to center, putting himself into scoring position for Brayan Rocchio to hit a sacrifice fly.
A two run home run brought the Yankees right back and in the lead in the bottom of the third.
In the top of the fourth José Ramírez hit a lead off double to right. Kyle Manzardo hit a fly ball to the short porch to put two on the board and regain the lead for Cleveland.
The Yankees reclaimed a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a one-out single, advancing to second with a José Caballero walk. A flyout and a stolen base put both runners in scoring position, allowing them to score easily on Paul Goldschmidt’s two-RBI single.
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In the top of the fifth Steven Kwan hit a lead off single to right field. Patrick Bailey reached on a fielding error by Amed Rosario. Brayan Rocchio, who was looking to bunt but did not offer, was hit by pitch to load the bases. Travis Bazzana hit a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning, tying the game in the process.
José hit a RBI double to score Bailey and force Aaron Boone to turn to the New York bullpen and giving Cleveland the lead again.
This time New York didn’t have an answer as the bullpen locked the Yankees down.
Brayan Rocchio kicked things off in the top of the seventh with a single on a grounder to left field. Rocchio quickly stole second base then caught Amed Rosario sleeping and stole third base too. José Ramírez hit a double to left to score Rocchio and put the Guards up by two runs.
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The top of the eighth inning is what ultimately sealed the victory for Cleveland. Angel Martínez hit a single to center and stole second after a successfully challenged out call on the play. Daniel Schneemann and Steven Kwan hit back-to-back singles. Kwan’s bunt ground ball single was expertly placed and his speedy baserunning allowed him to reach, loading the bases. With two-outs, Travis Bazzana came up with a huge swing.
Bazzana’s three-run double put the Guardians up 5 runs and sent the Yankees fans on there way home. The Guardians didn’t put up another run, but Kyle Manzardo worked a very impressive 13 pitch walk in the top of the ninth. Shawn Armstrong and Matt Festa closed out the eighth and ninth innings without allowing a single baserunner. The Guardians finished the game with nine runs, twelve hits, and one error. Every Guardians hitter reached base with Chase DeLauter being the only batter to only record a walk, no hits.
Tomorrow’s game will be a 7:05PM EDT start with Gavin Williams facing off against Garrit Cole.
