Orioles 4, Guardians 3: One Short of a Sweep

7th inning double proves costly as Guardians fall short of the sweep.

Today’s game started off shaky as Logan Allen gave up 3 runs in the first.

Ramon Laureano continued to terrorize the Guardians as he hit a 2-run shot off Logan in the first. Then, Allen gave up a single to Tyler O’Neill and Ramon Urias drove him in with a 2-out double.

The Guardians looked to be positioning themselves to strike right back as Martinez walked, and Jose singled him over to third with only one out in the bottom of the inning. Jose then stole second.

But, Manzardo struck out and Nolan lined out to first to end the inning.

In the third, Kwan hit a solo homer (his first in 120 at-bats).

Then, the Guardians looked to be threatening again when Martinez and Jose singled, putting runners at the corners (Martinez, again, went first to third on a single. Great baserunning from him today). Manzardo walked to load the bases. Jones barely missed a ball (that if he’d pulled, would probably have left), and instead hit a sac fly to bring the Guardians within one run. Schneemann flew out to end the inning. He’s been slumping pretty badly for a while now.

In the bottom of the 5th, Kwan homered again to tie the game, making today the first multihomer game of his career.

Logan Allen cruised through 6, surrendering only the runs he gave up in the first. But, he was brought back out for the 7th (which, even at the time, I thought was a mistake). He got the first out, and then gave up a double down the third base line. He was then replaced with Sabrowski, who retired Holliday to start his appearance. With two outs, he walked Westburg and then gave up the eventual game-winning RBI single to Henderson.

In the 8th, the Guardians had runners on first and second with 2 outs, and Santana was brought in to hit for Will Wilson (who, by the way, should not be anywhere near this team’s major league roster). He struck out chasing ball 4 from Seranthony Dominguez to end the inning.

The win streak ends, and the Guardians fall short of a sweep. but they’ve still come out of the break firing. I’d like to see some roster changes to really maximize both the offense and the starting pitching. Namely, trading Logan Allen and Santana, DFA’ing Will Wilson, and bringing up Messick, Kayfus, and literally anyone else. Literally anyone else but Will Wilson. Please.

Anyway, the Guardians have a relatively pivotal series in Kansas City this weekend as they look to get even closer to the third Wild Card spot.

Go start another win streak.