Game Recap: Guardians 2 - Padres 5
Poor Ben Lively. He Deserved Better.
The Cleveland Guardians went into Wednesday's game on April 2 looking to at least win one game in the series against the San Diego Padres. In the series' first two games, they lost 7-2 and 7-0. Ben Lively got the nod as the starter against Dylan Cease for the Padres. In the end, the Guardians were swept with a 5-2 loss on Wednesday. By all accounts, this game was not on Lively.
Up until the third inning, Lively was dealing by getting necessary outs left and right. However, all of that changed with two outs in the inning and Fernando Tatis Jr on first base. Jose Ramirez almost got him out at first but the speedy outfielder just beat the throw. The next batter, Luis Arraez got on base to move Tatis over to third. They went for the double steal and Bo Naylor had Arraez dead to rights at second base. Until Daniel Schneemann decided to throw the ball back home to get Tatis. Unfortunately, that was not the case and the inning went on, even though Scheemann could have tagged out Arraez to end the inning.
Next thing we know, it’s 4-0 after a Jackson Merrill two-run homerun, after signing a contract extension earlier in the day. Lively was dealing up until then and was tagged for four runs on subpar defensive plays that extended the inning. His day was done after pitching 4 1⁄3 innings giving up four runs on seven hits. He did manage to get four strikeouts while walking two. However, the two-run homer and the two other runs saw his ERA move up to 6.75 after two starts. Lively deserved better for his efforts after how he was dealing early, but his day was cut short after one out in the fifth.
Hitting-wise, it was a so-so day at the plate. The Guardians managed two runs on eight hits. At least they did not get shut out in back-to-back games. Lane Thomas got the RBI groundout to score Carlos Santana in the top of the seventh. Kyle Manzardo got an RBI on an SAC Fly in the top of the eighth to score Steven Kwan. Outside of that, there was not much to speak of only managing ten hits and two runs in the last two games. To be fair to the Guardians, the strike zone all series was very suspect by the umpiring crew, however, they did not help their cause either. They only scored two runs in the series before today’s game which came in game one with solo home runs from Jose Ramirez and Austin Hedges.
Thankfully the series against the Padres is over and now they can focus on the next series. The Guardians (2-4) take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (4-2) from Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 6 to end their nine-game, three-series road trip. The first pitch for game one of the series is at 9:38 p.m. Eastern. Gavin Williams is scheduled for the start against Jose Soriano for the Angels. Fans can watch the game on Guardians TV and listen at WMMA 100.7. The hope is the Guardians can at least take two of three games against the Angels and finish the road trip 4-5 before coming home to Cleveland.