The Guardians may field a baseball team, but they couldn’t put up baker’s dozen runs to beat the Tigers
Well, that’s that. The Cleveland Guardians dropped the series finale to the Detroit Tigers, 8-2, and were swept by a team that was one of the worst in the league coming in. The Minnesota Twins are heating up at the same time, leaving Cleveland at least five games back in the AL Central race, a deficit that seems to grow larger by the second.
It’s hard to decide what’s worse between losing both games of a double header or losing by a combined score of 19-6 in the final two games, but I’m leaning towards the latter.
Today’s loss came, in part, because Shane Bieber was out there tossing meatball sliders over the heart of the plate and couldn’t seem to locate anything else, either. None of his five runs allowed came off home runs (the only Tigers homer of the day was Kody Clemens off of Emmanuel Clase in the eighth inning), but it was death by a thousand singles, and the lifeless sliders were hit at the worst moments.
For example, Miguel Cabrera took a 2-0 slider dead center over the plate for a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth that extended a 3-2 lead to 5-2 and basically buried the Guardians. That’s not great.
After years of dominating the Tigers, especially in their own stadium, Bieber finished today with one of his worst lines ever against them: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO. It’s the first time he’s left Comerica Park without a W since Opening Day last year, and it’s his shortest outing ever against the Motor City Kitties.
The Guardians offense mustered eight hits, two apiece from Steven Kwan and Owen Miller, but not much else. Franmil Reyes might finally be on the right track, with a second-inning home run, his seventh of the season. He also blistered a 106.2 mph lineout for the hardest-hit Guardian baseball of the day — his home run was the second hardest hit.
Ernie Clement, playing second for the resting Andrés Giménez, went 1-for-3 with a walk and likely cemented himself on the roster for another four months.
Cleveland now sits at 40-40 on the season as they prepare to head to Kansas City for the weekend. First, though, they’ll take a much-needed break tomorrow with their first scheduled off-day since June 20. And boy do they need it.