The Guardians faced the Diamondbacks for Game 2 of a 3 game series in Arizona. Tanner Bibee got the start, looking to redeem the last half of his season.
In the top of the second the Guards had potential to strike first. David Fry drew a lead off walk, but two quick outs made it look like the inning would be over shortly. Nolan Jones singled to first with a head first slide to tag the bag. The call was originally ruled an out but was quickly over turned. With runners on first and second, Rocchio had two bad
swinging strikes and was struck out to retire the side.
In the bottom of the third, Jake McCarthy hit a lead off home run to left off of Bibee to put Arizona on the board first. But, Cleveland came right back to answer. José Ramírez drew a lead off walk and advanced to scoring position after an overturned call had David Fry out at first base. Carlos Santana hit a single to center that José had a great read on, allowing him to score from second. With two outs, Nolan Jones singled to right scoring Carlos before the side was retired.
Arizona continued the back and forth with Corbin Carroll hitting a one-out triple in the bottom of the fourth that went perfectly to the corner. A groundout scored Carroll, bringing the game to tied once again. A single and a hit-by-pitch were looking to give Bibee some issues again, but he struck out Jake McCarthy to turn it over to Cleveland’s offense.
In the top of the fifth with two outs Angel Martínez singled to get on base for José to hit his 26th home run of the season. A lead off triple in the fifth that hit off the right field fence put Arizona in scoring position for a one-out RBI single to close Cleveland’s lead to one run. Corbin Carroll hit a one-run triple off the fence in nearly the same spot, tying the game again.
Bibee came back out in the bottom of the sixth and recorded two outs and single before being replaced by Erik Sabrowski. Bibee went 5.2IP, 7H, 4R/ER, 1BB, and 5K. Sabrowski retired the side.
In the top of the seventh, Cleveland had something brewing. Austin Hedges drew a one-out walk. With two outs, Arizona made a pitching change. Angel Martínez doubled to first and Hedgey went from first to third. José was intentionally walked, but pinch hitter Kyle Manzardo wasn’t able to capitalize on the loaded bases, leaving the game tied.
Tim Herrin came in for the 7th inning. After a lead off walk, a single, and an intentional walk the Diamondbacks had runners on first and second. Carroll grounded into a force out, putting runners on the corners. Tim Herrin was replaced by Nic Enright. Carroll stole second, putting himself in scoring position for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. whose two-RBI single put the Diamondbacks back in the lead.
As with this entire game, when one team took the lead, the other immediately challenged it. In the top of the eighth, Gabriel Arias hit a one-out single and stole second. Brayan Rocchio drew a six pitch walk for Austin Hedges. Hedgey hit a single to left, scoring Arias from second and putting the tying run 90 feet from home. Steven Kwan got on base with a walk to load them up. Angel Martínez popped out for the final out of the inning.
Jacob Junis saw three and sent down three in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Guards one last shot to take the lead. Diamondback’s pitcher Andrew Saalfrank sent them down 1-2-3. Guards lose 6-5.
