Gavin Williams took the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks, looking to continue his dominate season. The forecast called for heavy rain, off and on, throughout the game which proved to be the case. As the rain came and went, it ultimately poured during the sixth resulting the game being put into delay and the tarp being pulled. Not before making a complete mess of the infield and warning track.
Gavin Williams had an absolutely
stunning performance. The Guardians ace was perfect going into the sixth. Tim Tawa showed bunt on the first pitch in the sixth which drew umbrage from Patrick Bailey and an annoyed shrug from Brayan Rocchio.
The bunt was unsuccessful and Tawa hit a swinging single to break up the perfect game and the no hitter. Ildemaro Vargas grounded into a force out and advanced to second on a throwing error by Rocchio. Gavin got a strikeout for the second out. Corbin Carroll drew a walk on a wild pitch that advanced Vargas to third. At this point the game delay was officially called and the tarp was rolled out. However, as the grounds crew was trying to cover the infield, the benches cleared at home plate. Third base coach Rouglas Odor was clearly incensed and it took Augie, another coach, and Perdomo from the Diamondbacks to get Odor to even start walking towards the dugout. After the grounds crew plead their case for the crowd to disperse, it did seem like cooler heads prevailed as the game entered a lengthy delay.
With the delay, Gavin’s day ended earlier than planned. Gavin went 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed one hit and one walk, both in the sixth inning, and struck out 10 batters. Gavin joined Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale as the only pitchers in MLB history to go five consecutive games of 10 or more strikeouts and 1 or fewer walks per outing according to Tom Hamilton.
Before the delay hit, the Guards offense was on a roll. Patrick Bailey started the scoring with a lead off solo home run in the bottom of the third.
Petey Halpin followed up Patty’s HR with a single that fell in right and then reached second on a successful stolen base attempt. Steven Kwan drew a walk as the rain first started falling on the players. With one out and runners on first and second, Chase DeLauter hit a RBI single to center.
In the bottom of the fifth Steven Kwan drew a lead off walk. José Ramírez hit a single to right. Chase DeLauter knocked in his third RBI on the game with a two-RBI double to right scoring Kwan and José.
Travis Bazzana drew a walk, still no outs in the inning. Then Bazz and CDL executed a successful double steal with the ball getting away from the third baseman.
Kyle Manzardo made the effort worth it with a RBI single to score CDL.
Playing resumed at 4:50PM with Hunter Gaddis on the mound, runners on the corners, and two outs. Gaddis allowed a walk before retiring the side. Craig Yoho made his Guardians debut after being traded from the Brewers yesterday morning. Yoho got two quick outs, but hit Nolan Arenado to walk a batter. Tim Tawa struck out swinging to retire the side.
Matt Festa was brought on in the top of the eighth with Angel Martínez replacing CDL in right. Festa got two outs, but gave up a walk and a single. With tomorrow being an off day, Vogt pulled Festa for Cade Smith to get the final out. Cade came on in the ninth to close it out. He got the first out then walked the next two. A fielding error by Rocchio allowed Tim Tawa to load them up on a fielder’s choice. Cade struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning and a ground out to first retired the side. The Guardians completed a two hit shutout across five pitchers to seal the Sunday victory.
With this win the Guardians are back above .500 heading into the off day before the New York Mets roll into town.
