Guardians Drop Back-to-Back Games Against Cardinals, Lose Second-Straight Series

Late help from Bo Naylor made it seem like the Cleveland Guardians would be able to weather the storm.

But when the top of the ninth came to a close, the St. Louis Cardinals had the win in hand, 5-3.

On Wednesday, April 15, the Guardians and Cardinals squared off for the last outing of a three-game series, with the Guardians' late-game struggles in the bullpen being on full display yet again. While the bats, yet again, seemed to be in good form, the barrage of late-game knocks wasn't enough to produce a win.

The Guardians had dropped last night's matchup too, 6-5, with the bullpen blowing a four-run lead.

In Wednesday's affair, starting pitcher Slade Cecconi lasted four innings, allowing three hits, five walks and one earned run. He struck out four batters, but it wasn't enough to keep St. Louis back from building momentum.

After Cecconi's day was done, which saw a total of 87 pitches thrown, the coaching staff turned to Connor Brogdon.

“I don’t know if it was what they were doing effectively or what I was doing ineffectively," Cecconi said about his long-winded second inning and high pitch count in a postgame interview. "Felt like it was either like I really executed my pitches well today, or I threw uncompetitive misses. Whereas, you know, I wasn't making them make difficult swing decisions in some of those counts. Yeah, I think that was it.”

#Guardians Slade Cecconi on that long 2nd inning:

“I don’t know if it was what they were doing effectively or what I was doing ineffectively. Felt like it was either like I really executed my pitches well today, or I threw uncompetitive misses. Whereas, you know, I wasn't making… https://t.co/qsSwYphoHt
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) April 15, 2026

Unfortunately, Brogdon didn't do much better as he would go on to finish the game, allowing two hits, one walk and three earned runs across 1.1 innings pitched.

He was handed the loss, moving his season record to 2-2.

While Brogdon's struggles were glaring, Tim Herrin, who followed him up, had similar issues.

Herrin had just one hit and one walk given up, but after he came into the game with the bases loaded, JJ Wetherholt sacrifice flew and then Alec Burleson singled to center field, scoring two. Each of the runs was attributed to Brogdon, though.

After those two put the game pretty much out of reach, Matt Festa finished the outing.

He tossed the final 2.1 innings, giving up three hits and one earned run, while striking out three batters.

Cleveland's only runs were scored in the top of the first and top of the seventh. Both times, the Guardians had two outs.

Kyle Manzardo tacked on the first RBI of the outing, sending José Ramírez across home plate, while Naylor had the other two RBI on a double in the seventh. He sent Rhys Hoskins and Daniel Schneemann around the base paths and home.

For both Manzardo and Naylor, their contributions on Wednesday showed that they are trending in the right direction.

“Yeah, I mean, from finding the barrel, at the end of the day, if I continue on that line, then the ball's gonna fall," Naylor said about finding his first RBI of the year. "So, that's the best I can do to, you know, control what I can control. And, yeah, the more times you do that, the better position we [will be] in.”

#Guardians Bo Naylor on his first extra base hit and first RBI of the season today in St Louis:

“Yeah, I mean, you know, from finding the barrel, you know, at the end of the day, if I continue on that line, then the ball's gonna fall. So, that's the best I can do to, you know,…
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) April 15, 2026

Currently, the two still sport the lowest batting averages on the active major league roster, but as of late, they seem to be getting the bat in a better groove.

In total, the Guardians finished with eight total hits and two walks drawn.

The play at the plate has gradually gotten better as the season has ticked forward, while the play on the mound has gotten a bit rockier.

As the team travels home to Progressive Field for a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, all eyes will be on whether they can put these recent blunders behind them and return to winning ways. The Guardians are currently 10-9 on the year.

The Guardians and Orioles will begin a four-game set on Thursday, April 16, at 6:10 p.m. EST.

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