The Guardians ended their five-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Reds, led by a first inning Kyle Manzardo grand slam.
After a Jose Ramirez single, a Chase DeLauter error-inducing grounder, and a Travis Bazzana challenge-aided walk to load the bases in the first, the umpires determined Kyle Manzardo got hit by a pitch (which he did btw). Tito Francona challenged and the ruling was overturned, taking a run off the board. But, Manzardo made them pay with his first career grand salami:
Other
highlights:
-Travis Bazzana had some great at-bats including a huge single off a tough lefty reliever.
-Ramirez looked like his oldself today and stole two bases in a row to manufacture the tying run in the 5th to chase Burns out of the game for the Reds. Ah, how I missed this man.
-Chase DeLauter has an 18-game on-base streak.
-Franco Aleman looked untouchable in two perfect innings. I cannot believe they left him in the minors as long as they did.
-Cade Smith looked untouchable. Again, I would not trade him, but I also am aware that any team that would trade a player like this could get a franchise-altering return. I do not expect the Guardians to trade Smith. I expect them to try to extend him and that makes me happy.
-Another safety squeeze produced the go-ahead run. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Now, time to see if they can get game 2. They will need a long outing from Gavin Williams with only Matt Festa, Erik Sabrowski and Will Dion available out of the pen. They will also need to score some runs off the Reds pen which is doing a bullpen game after having to use four relief arms in the opener. One more win to secure the coveted Ohio Cup.
