(Editor’s note: Welcome, Jake Brahney, to the CTC writing team!)
OK, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row’. If we win again tomorrow, it’s called a ‘winning streak’. It has happened before.
Advertisement
The Guardians entered Wednesday night looking for back to back wins for the first time since July 21st. They would need to do so well shy of full strength, as Chase DeLauter and Jo Adell were out of the lineup nursing injuries, and David Fry (fresh in from Columbus for injured Rhys Hoskins) just got back to Cleveland today. Unfortunate that 3 of our “best” options vs Lefties aren’t in the lineup, but that’s baseball, Suzyn…
A shorthanded lineup vs a LHP making his debut; what could go wrong?!
In any event, fans were treated to a Big Lefty Headliner of a Pitching Matchup tonight, as Cleveland’s Rookie All Star Parker Messick faced off against a former Guardian prospect making his MLB debut; Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson. To those familiar with Cleveland’s Farm System (or at least “Guards Twitter”), Wilkinson is hardly a new name. A 10th round pick in the ’23 Draft, “Tugboat” had made waves in MiLB going from JUCO to dominating A/A+ ball in just a year. After a somewhat down 2025 (and knowing that Wilkinson would be Rule 5 eligible this upcoming Winter), the Guardians traded him and a Compensatory Draft pick to the Giants for Captain Clutch and Catching Savant, Patrick Bailey.
So far, it would appear that everyone is happy with the trade, as Bailey has shown his value behind the dish and at many times, at it, while Wilkinson has gone from AA to an MLB debut in just 3 months.
Advertisement
And how did that debut go?
I would call it “effectively wild”. Wilkinson struggled getting ahead in counts, but when he did get the Guardians to swing, he induced a lot of weak contact, often jamming guys inside and getting infield popups as a result. Tugboat left after 2 successful innings, facing 7 batters and giving up 1 hit. He was far from the story in game as many pumped him up to be beforehand.
Meanwhile, if Wilkinson is a Tugboat, Messick is an Aircraft Carrier. Through 3 innings he had 5 strikeouts on 9 swings and misses. He was cruising early, and it looked like another night where he might just need 1.
Unfortunately, the Guardians lack of focus this season reared its ugly head in the 4th. Devers lead off the inning with a double that could’ve been a single had Halpin picked up the ball cleanly (or not taken his time getting it in). Add in a Wild pitch that Hedges couldn’t get in front of, and the Giants had a man on 3rd without much doing. Messick was able to induce weak outs, however, with 2 outs, Rocchio couldn’t come up with one in the hole and the Giants took a cheap 1-0 lead. A quick double and fly out ended the threat at just 1, thanks in part to some great defense (or at least the threat of it) from Steven Kwan.
Advertisement
So the Guardians were trailing even though they had a great pitcher on the mound. Stop if you’ve heard this before. Would they do anything about it? Would the offense pick up the defense?
Well, in the bottom of the 4th, Cleveland started a 2 out rally when Angel Martinez squeaked under a glove and Bazzana rocked a double down the line in right. Bazz maybe hit it a little too hard (not a criticism, just an unfortunate happening) as the ball bounced right back to the RF, holding Martinez at 3rd. It was up to Angel Genao, who would hit a laser to LF but was caught on a dive by Victor Bericoto. A 2 run catch keeps the lead for San Fran after 4.
The deeper we went into the game, the more important that catch would be. The Guardians would threaten again in the 7th, thanks to a 2-out error by Adames, but couldn’t take advantage. With 2 on and 2 out and a 2-0 count, Brayan Rocchio popped one up on the infield and the Guardians would head to the 8th down 1-0.
They would “threaten” one more time (threaten like a toddler with a knife is technically a threat, maybe more to themself but by definition, it’s a threat) in the 8th. To everyone’s surprise, Houser stayed in to start the 8th, quickly walking Steven Kwan. Next pitch was a pass ball and just like that, all we needed were productive outs or hits from Jose/Lowe/Martinez…. I’m sure you know how this story ends. All 3 would strike out and the Guardians would continue their struggles to even make contact with men in scoring position.
Advertisement
Like so many other games over the past few months, the pitching did everything they could to keep the Guardians in the game, but the offense just couldn’t string together anything meaningful. Adrian Houser fit the mold of a classic 2026 Guard Killer, throwing 5 shutout innings out of the bullpen, earning himself the Win. Messick was the tough luck Loser tonight, going 6.2 IP with a career high 10 strikeouts on just 6 hits and 0 walks.
The Guardians will go for the series Win tomorrow afternoon (1:10 PM) when Gavin Williams takes the mound vs Landen Roupp.
