Guardians split doubleheader, but explode for 18 runs

Morning N&N for May 7

From 2018-2025, Cleveland’s baseball team has not been known for its monster run totals. But when your opponent’s bullpen is full of McCaughans, scoring looks easy.

So often on Tuesday, the Nationals relievers got into trouble that could only be described as self-inflicted. Walks... wild pitches... being behind in the count constantly... throwing Austin Hedges a low-and-in pitch... ya know, the things you just can’t do.

So how do you score 18 runs and split the games? No, not by scoring 16 in one and 2 in the other, surprisingly. The runs were actually evenly split 9 and 9. But the Guardians allowed 10 in the earlier game. (And just 1 in the game that began at 7:10)

And how do you allow 10 runs? When Cade Smith has an extremely rare bad game. A fairer strike zone would have kept him out of trouble, but allowing a double to a hitter (Dylan Crews) who otherwise looked like his bat needed some MiLB seasoning was a sign that it wasn’t all umpiring.

In the late game, things went so well that the day’s 27th man, Zak Kent, was able to pitch the 9th inning.

You just read a lot of things about one game or the other, but one player who was awesome in both games was Cleveland Indians/Guardians franchise legend Carlos Santana. He was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored in G1 and blasted a 3-run homer in G2.

Washington now has an impossible 7.16 bullpen ERA as a team.

around baseball

• The Orioles continued to give up a million runs every night. What is in the water in that region? Maybe the fluoride needs to be re-added?

• it is time to check in on the White Sox...