(Photo by Tara Walton/Getty Images)
After a disappointing 5-3 loss on Saturday afternoon, the Guardians came into Sunday’s Rubber-Match looking to take the 3 game series vs the defending American League champs Toronto Blue Jays with RHP Slade Cecconi on the mound, getting the start.
Things did not go as planned for the Guardians, falling 4-2, and losing the series after taking game 1 of the series on Friday night.
Slade Cecconi wasn’t horrible but he also wasn’t good, giving up 4 earned runs in 5.2 innings.
Slade got into trouble early, allowing 2 runs in the bottom of the first, from a Vladimir Guerrero RBI single and Jesus Sanchez sac fly, but then settled down, not giving up another run for 4 straight innings before allowing a Jesus Sanchez 2-run homer in the 6th to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead, knocking Cecconi out of the game.
Cecconi is now 0-4 on the season with an ERA well above 6.00, 6.23 to be exact.
The more the season goes on, and Cecconi continues to struggle, it looks more and more everyday that the Guardians lost the Josh Naylor got Slade Cecconi trade that went down back in the offseason back in 2024.
It was just a dumb and unnecessary trade to begin with, getting rid of a 30+ HR, 100+ RBI first baseman with a good glove for a struggling young pitching, with an ERA well above 5.00 at the time of the trade. All because the Dolans are too cheap and are unable to pull out the checkbook.
On the offensive side for the Guards, they were led once again by Angel Martinez and Brayan Rocchio who both had RBI hits in the top of the 5th to tie the game at the time at 2-2.
Rocchio got the Guardians on the board, making it a 2-1 game, with an RBI single to center field to drive in Juan Brito.
Rocchio now has 17 RBIs on the season, which is the team lead, which absolutely no one saw coming, being a month into the regular season.
The Guardians tied the game 2-2 with a RBI double by Angel Martinez, smacking a line drive over the left fielder’s head, bouncing off the top of the wall, just kissing a go-ahead homer.
Video Credit: Cleveland Guardians on X/ MLB
Martinez continues to be fantastic, putting together another multi hit game, now batting .289 on the season. Martinez definitely has the potential to become an all-star outfielder in this league, and has improved tremendously compared to his first two seasons. Now let’s just hope he can keep it up.
Other than the 2 runs scored in the 5th, the Guards put up no more runs, pretty much going down without a fight. They were not able to take advantage of facing Patrick Corbin, who is just a horrible pitcher at this point of his career, probably one of the worst starters in baseball, and fell by a final of 4-2, losing the 3 game series.
This was a disappointing series for Cleveland, losing to a Blue Jays team that is a shell of what they were last year due to the injuries. Cleveland needs to get their head out of the ground, and get back to playing fundamentally sound baseball.
This was definitely a winnable series for the Guardians, losing the last two games. The main reason for the Guardians losing this series is that they were an awful (3 for 17) or .176 with runners in scoring position the last two games, as well as leaving 15 men on base. That is not a good recipe for success.
Cleveland is back to work on Monday night at home, hosting a solid and improved Tampa Bay Rays for a 3 game set. The Rays have always gave the Guardians trouble in the past, so Cleveland needs to get it going early, and avoid playing in another Rubber-Match.
First pitch tomorrow will be at 6:10 PM, with LHP Parker Messick getting the start for Cleveland. Messick is 3-0 on the season in 5 starts with an ERA of 1.76.
Leave a Reply