The Guardians dominated the Tigers tonight, winning 8-2.
The game began inauspiciously with a Riley Greene double giving Detroit an early 1-0 lead. But, Cleveland went to work on Tigers’ starter Framber Valdez in the 3rd. Brayan Rocchio tripled
Angel Matthew grounded out, then Jose walked… the Chase DeLauter grounded out just softly enough to score Angel and force Jose out at second. Then Rhys Hoskins
stepped in to deliver the go-ahead double:
Of course, when playing Framber Valdez, you have to be careful not to hurt his fragile ego by scoring too many runs.
Slade Cecconi continued to get Tigers out quickly, while the Guardians played with fire and scored another couple runs off Valdez in the fifth on a Rocchio walk, an Angel Martinez single, and a Jose single… followed by a DeLauter grounder and a Hoskins sacrifice fly. Goodbye, Framber. See ya later.
Speaking of Angel, no one told the Tigers not to throw him pitches a foot outside the zone:
Leading up to this pitch, Bazzana bunt singled:
Steven Kwan drew one of his three walks on the night, and Hedges sacrificed them over. Martinez’s single followed his AL player of the week award today:
Then, José doubled and followed his double with a homer in the 8th inning:
Slade ended up going 7 and 1/3rd, giving up two runs. It made him very happy:
Matt Festa closed the 8th out and then Peyton Pallette limped his way through the 9th, walking a batter and hitting another, forcing Stephen Vogt to warm up Cade Smith. I just don’t know how long they will continue to carry Pallette. He is very similar to what 2021 Trevor Stephan was. The problem is that this is not the 2021 Guardians. This group is a clear playoff contender. But, that’s a concern for another day. A big win and no inner circle of trust relievers used!
The Guardians are now five games over .500 and Travis Bazzana looks so real, folks. Let’s sleep well tonight
