The Cleveland Guardians went into this series with one of the best records in baseball. They are still first in the AL Central and lead the entire American League with a record of 19-9 and a win/loss percentage of .679. The Atlanta Braves are right there with them. They’re leading the NL East and the entire National League with a record of 19-7 and a win/loss percentage of .731. Even though the Braves won this series, the Guardians made it a close fight and pushed two games into extra innings.
Game One
The first pitch of the first game went out on Friday, April 26 at 7:20 PM at Truist Park in Atlanta. The Guardians made an immediate impact when their lead-off batter Steven Kwan hit a home run.
The starting pitcher for Atlanta was Chris Sale. He pitched seven innings giving up two hits and one homer, walked one, and struck out 6, with an ERA of 3.69. The Braves used four pitchers the whole game. Pierce Johnson came in to pitch in the eighth inning. That would be his only inning pitched and he struck out one and had an ERA of 3.27. The Braves split the pitching for the ninth inning and sent out Tyler Matzek to start. in 0.1 innings he gave up two hits and one run, struck out one, and had an ERA of 8.64. A.J. Minter came out in his stead to pitch 0.2 innings and finish the game. He gave up one hit, struck out one, and had an ERA of 1.42.
Starting on the mound for Cleveland was Logan Allen. In 4.2 innings he gave up five hits and four runs, walked two and struck out five, and had an ERA of 5.46. Tyler Beede came out to pitch in the fifth and in 1.11 innings he gave up two hits and one run, walked two and struck out two, and had an ERA of 5.68. Pedro Avila finished the game for the Guardians. He pitched two innings gave up one hit and one run, struck out two, and had an ERA of 7.62.
Although they started the scoring, Cleveland didn’t score again until the ninth inning when David Fry singled and sent Tyler Freeman home. Atlanta didn’t start scoring until the fourth inning when Marcell Ozuna hit a double to drive home Austin Riley and Matt Olson. Michael Harris II then doubled to send Ozuna home. The Braves kept the runs coming in the fifth when Olson got an RBI single. In the next inning, Ozzie Albies also got an RBI single. Atlanta’s final run came from Orlando Arcia hitting a home run in the eighth. The game ended 6-2 Braves win.
Game Two
Game two was the first game to go into extra innings. The starting pitcher for Atlanta was Charlie Morton. He gave up four hits in seven innings, walked one and struck out six, and had an ERA of 3.60. Joe Jimenez came out in the eighth, gave up three hits and two runs, and had an ERA of 2.45. Raisel Iglesias replaced Jimenez in the ninth to walk one batter and strike out another. Dylan Lee was the last pitcher for Atlanta coming out for the 10th and 11th innings. He gave up one hit and two runs, walked two and struck out two, and had an ERA of 1.46.
The Cleveland Guardians had to dig into their bullpen for this game. Starting was Tanner Bibee. He gave up two hits in seven innings, struck out nine, and had an ERA of 3.45. Hunter Gaddis pitched the eighth inning. He gave up four hits and Atlanta’s only two runs. Gaddis finished with an ERA of 1.35. Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth inning and his stats are all zeros except he finished with an ERA of 0.65. In the 10th, Scott Barlow stepped on the mound, gave up one hit, walked one, struck out one, and had an ERA of 3.46. To finish the game Nick Sandlin came out to pitch the 11th inning. He struck out one and finished with an ERA of 2.84.
Game Three
The series’ final game was an afternoon game starting at 1:36 PM. It took 10 innings to decide the winner. Bryce Elder started on the mound for Atlanta. He pitched 5.1 innings, gave up four hits and two runs, walked four, and struck out two, with an ERA of 1.50. Aaron Bummer was his replacement in the fifth inning. He pitched 1.2 innings, gave up three hits and one run, struck out two, and had an ERA of 5.79. Tyler Matzek went back in for the second time this series to start the eighth. He played one inning and gave up one hit with an ERA of 7.71. Raisel Iglesias also made a second appearance. He gave up one hit and had one strikeout in one inning, finishing with an ERA of 2.38. Closing out the 10th inning A.J. Minter also made a second appearance. He only gave up one hit and had an ERA of 1.32.
Once again the Cleveland Guardians had to dig deep into their bullpen. Ben Lively started and in 4.1 innings he gave up four hits and one run, walked two and struck out 5, and finished with an ERA of 2.30. Nick Sandlin came in to strike out two in the fifth inning finishing with an ERA of 2.70. Cade Smith came out in the sixth to strike out one batter and finished with an ERA of 2.77. Scott Barlow came in for Smith for the seventh inning. He struck out three in one inning and finished with an ERA of 3.21. Hunter Gaddis also made his second series appearance to pitch the eighth inning. He gave up three hits and two runs and had an ERA of 5.27. Tyler Beede pitched the ninth, gave up one hit, struck out one, and finished with an ERA of 5.27. Finishing out the tenth inning was Emmanuel Clase. He struck one out but unfortunately for the Guardians, he gave up one hit and one run for Atlanta to get the walk-off win.
Cleveland once again started the scoring off when Andrew Gimenez got an RBI single in the top of the third. In the fifth Brayan Rocchio scored off of a wild pitch from Bryce Elder making it 2-0 Cleveland. In the bottom of the inning, Chadwick Tromp hit an RBI single to cut the lead in half 1-2 for Atlanta. Steven Kwan once again showed off his batting skills in the seventh when he also hit an RBI single. In the eighth, Atlanta tied it up with two RBIs from Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson, 3-3. Finally, in the 10th inning, Austin Riley hit a single to send home the winning run. The Atlanta Braves win 4-3.
The Cleveland Guardians next play in Houston against the Astros on Tuesday, April 30, at 8:10 PM EDT.
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