Late Game Heroics Spring Guardians Past A's
Cleveland's resiliency was on full display Thursday night in a comeback win over the Oakland Athletics.
The Guardians entered the night 21-5 in games which they scored first, and they were just 5-21 in games they allowed the first run.
Despite falling behind early on Thursday and losing manager Terry Francona to an ejection in the sixth inning, the Guardians exploded for four runs in the eighth inning on five straight hits to complete the comeback and take the series-opener from Oakland, 8-4.
This is just the fourth time this year the team has come back to win a game it trailed after seven innings. This is also the first time Cleveland has gotten over the .500 mark (27-26) since they were 7-5 at the end of their first home stand of the season.
Once again, Cleveland's bullpen (which has been the best in the American League that last month) threw four shutout frames to back a solid start.
Andres Gimenez - who's been the best hitter in baseball this season with two outs and runners in scoring position - delivered a third straight hit to open the eighth inning and give the Guardians a 5-4 lead.
Then Ernie Clement seemed content to move runners up with a sacrifice bunt, but ended up bunting for a hit and forced a throwing error that brought home another run. Clement played a fabulous third base on Thursday night as well.
Richie Palacios pinch-hit for Luke Maile and doubled home two more runs with a great shot to the left field corner to essentially seal the game.
The night didn't get off to a great start, but it didn't take long for the bats to get going.
The Guardians got on the board in the fourth inning thanks to their first back-to-back home runs in almost a full calendar year. Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor took Oakland starter James Kaprielian deep to right and center field, respectively. The solo shots tied the game at 2-2.
Those back-to-back jacks were the first such homers for Cleveland since July 31, 2021, when Owen Miller and Austin Hedges did that against the Chicago White Sox.
Konnor Pilkington pitched pretty well after a shaky second inning. He retired eight in a row at one point and hadn't given up a hit to 13 consecutive batters. But after allowing Christian Bethancourt and Elvis Andrus to notch two straight hits, Terry Francona went to the bullpen and brought on Bryan Shaw.
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Unfortunately, Shaw gave up a 2-run double to pinch-hitter Seth Brown and Oakland took a 4-2 lead.
Cleveland got a run closer in the sixth right after Tito was ejected. Steven Kwan scored on Oscar Gonzalez's third hit of the night.
Then Kwan delivered a game-tying RBI single in the seventh, bringing home Luke Maile from second base.
That set the stage for the bottom of the eighth heroics for Gimenez, Clement and Palacios in the eighth.
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