Clutch Hitting Curses The Guardians In Home Opener, Fall To Mariners
The Cleveland Guardians are still looking for their first win at Progressive Feild in 2023 after they dropped the Home Opener on Friday to the Seattle Mariners.
The Guardians played a largely fine game in the first half but struggled in the final innings.
But as Cleveland knows being on the opposite side of games such as this one, it's the little things that matter. Unfortaunly, the Guardians couldn't do those little things which ended up costing them the game.
Cleveland had the bases loaded with just two outs in the first inning and looked like they had Logan Gilbert on the ropes early on. However, they only managed one run out of this which was when Amed Rosario scored on a passed ball. The clutch hitting just wasn't there.
The Guardians were able to score two more runs that came from Myles Straw who is off to a terrific start to the season.
That's where the scoring stopped for Cleveland. After building a three-run lead by the fourth inning they couldn't get another run across the plate. Not only could they not score, but the Guardians simply couldn't hit the ball.
They only had one hit from the fourth inning which was a double from Andres Gimenez in the sixth inning.
Aaron Civale pitched a masterful seven-inning, shutout game in their first meeting last weekend and he pitched well against them on Friday too. He had five strikeouts and only walked one batter, but also gave up four earned runs on five hits.
The Mariners clearly picked some up on him after seeing him for the second time in a week.
Nick Sandlin came in relief after Civale and gave up a two-run home run to Rookie of the Year winner Julio Rodriguez which sealed the deal for the Mariners. This is now Rodriguez's second home run of the season, both coming off the Guardians.
The last time that the Guardians lost to the Mariners, they went on to win three straight. Let's hope the same kind of energy is in store for Cleveland over the next two games.
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