Cleveland demolished Baltimore. But, it didn’t feel like it
The Guardians beat the Orioles 10-5 tonight. That’s awesome. It makes me happy.
And yet…
Cleveland went 3 for 20 with runners in scoring position. They left 15 men on base. Tanner Bibee responded to the Guardians need to win every possible game against bad teams by giving up three runs in the top of the first. Then, after Bibee locked in, Carlos Santana just didn’t catch the ball at first base in the third and Bibee gave up a two-run homer to Ramon Laureano who absolutely refused to be rosterable in Cleveland. And, finally, after Kyle Manzardo absolutely mauled pitches for a double and a home run, he was lifted as soon as he was about to face a lefty reliever with an ERA of 9. For David Fry who grounded out weakly and then struck out later against that lefty reliever.
Somehow, the Guardians still found a way to handily win this game. Probably because they saw the underside of the Orioles’ bullpen and one of Baltimore’s many very poor starting pitchers in Tomoyuki Sugano.
Jose Ramirez hit a three-run laser in the first:
Bo Naylor hit a home run:
And, as mentioned before, so did Kyle Manzardo:
After the Fry pinch-hitting fiasco, manager Stephen Vogt wisely stuck with lefties Nolan Jones and Daniel Schneemann who drew bases-loaded walks (MIRACULOUSLY AGAINST A SOUTHPAW!!) and Brayan Rocchio removed all doubt with a two-run single:
It wasn’t great to see Bibee give up five runs, but he did manage to give the team seven innings, allowing Kolby Allard and Hunter Gaddis (who looked sharp after a lengthy layoff) to close things out. Jose Ramirez closed the game out with a fun catch:
I understand why the Guardians continue to bring Fry in for Manzardo against lefties. They want to give Fry all the reps they possibly can to get him right. They know Santana brings value defensively (despite his error tonight) that Manzardo doesn’t and Fry can’t. But, I’m sorry, any feel for the game tells you to leave your hitter who is immensely hot and smacking the ball around the yard in to face a bad lefty reliever, if nothing else to show you’ve got some confidence in him. I’ll die on that hill, but at least it’s a happy death because the Guardians found a way to win in spite of a decision I didn’t get. Part of the fun is disagreeing with your manager; I’m not mad, I’m just disapp…but I can’t even be that, thankfully, because my team scored ten runs and won a game. So, sweet dreams?