News and Notes - Guardians Lose Two in Doubleheader

The Cleveland Guardians drop both games of the Wednesday doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Guardians have officially lost a season high of five straight games. Wednesday’s matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks started with Ben Lively pitching Game 1. Lively pitched 5.0 innings, giving up four hits, four walks, and only striking out two batter. The four runs allowed by Lively came in the top of the 2nd and the top of the 5th. Both home runs allowed by Lively were preceded by a walk pushing the score to 0-2 going into the bottom of the 5th. Josh quickly put the Guards on the board with a solo shot.

The Guards started building momentum as Andrés Giménez and Daniel Schneemann singled. Brayan Rocchio hit a double that scored Giménez, but a double play and great throw to home plate ended the potential rally. Eli Morgan took the mound in the 6th and went 1.2 innings of scoreless, hitless baseball. It has been great seeing Morgan slot back into the bullpen rather seamlessly this time around. The only other run in game run came off the bat of José Ramírez who hit a single to right field scoring Steven Kwan who reached base on a single of his own.

Game 2 (make up of Tuesday night’s postponed game) was a similarly disappointing affair. Carlos Carrasco went 4.1 innings pitched, giving up five hits and two walks. Cookie allowed four runs and struck out five. This game quickly became a revolving door for the bullpen. Tim Herrin, Nick Sandlin, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Scott Barlow all made appearances. Many fans were hoping to avoid this situation seeing as Friday the Guardians roll into Minnesota for another double header. The only bullpen pitcher to allow a run was Nick Sandlin who went 0.2 innings.

The three Cleveland runs came from two solo shots and a sac fly. In the bottom of the 2nd, David Fry answered Josh Bell’s solo homer with a 407ft moonshot to center field.

In the bottom of the 4th, Angel Martínez hit a sacrifice fly ball to left field that scored Josh Naylor from 3rd. José Ramírez hit his 30th home run in the bottom of the 6th, notching another feather in his record breaking cap.

The Guardians have an off day today before heading to Minnesota. Hopefully with the Columbus Clippers currently playing in St. Paul, we may see some additional roster moves that bolster the current lackluster offense against right handed pitching.

American League Central Standings:

Cleveland Guardians - 67-47

Minnesota Twins - 63-50 - 3.5GB

Kansas City Royals - 63-52 - 4.5GB

Detroit Tigers - 54-60 - 13.0GB

Chicago White Sox - 28-89 - 40.5GB

With the double loss the Guardians have quickly fallen to in the American League and are a full game back from the New York Yankees along side the Orioles. The Philadelphia Phillies are slowly clawing their way back to the overall #1 spot and are 0.5 games out of first place, behind the Yankees.

Cleveland Guardians News:

With José’s 30th home run in Game 2, he has broken a franchise record.