This week, the Red Sox hosted the Guardians for a four-game series from April 15-18. Cleveland returned home with the series win and showed how dominant they can be. Game one was a shutout. They allowed seven runs from Boston in the second game, but their batting bailed them out in the 11th inning. The Red Sox won in the third game, but the Guardians battled back to win the fourth game and the series.
Game 1
The starting pitchers were Xzavion Curry for Cleveland and Kutter Crawford for Boston. Curry pitched for five innings and had three strikeouts. Crawford pitched for 5.2 and had six strikeouts. Both only gave up two hits. There was no scoring for the first six innings. Brennan Bernardino replaced Crawford for the last out of the top of the sixth. Tim Herrin replaced Curry in the bottom of the sixth. After Guardian’s Josh Naylor made it to second base on a ground ball from brother Bo Naylor, Boston changed up the pitching again. Greg Weissert replaced Bernardino. The next at-bat after the change, Cleveland’s Will Brennan pinch-hit for Tyler Freeman and got a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to start the scoring. 2-0 Guardians lead.
The Guardians scored again in the eighth when Jose Ramirez hit a ball that glanced off Boston’s first baseman Triston Casas and continued into the outfield. Brayan Rocchio scored. Ramirez clamored toward second, and right fielder Wilyer Abreu made a throwing error that allowed Steven Kwan to score. The Guardians remained up 4-0. Cleveland scored twice more in the ninth inning with RBIs from Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio to win 6-0.
Game 2
The starting pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians was Tanner Bibee. Bibee pitched five innings and gave up five hits, one run, and one home run. He struck out three and had an ERA of 4.82. Starting for Boston was Garrett Whitlock; he pitched four innings and gave up three hits and two runs. He struck out one and had an ERA of 1.96.
Wilyer Abreu got an RBI to put Cleveland up 1-0 in the top of the second inning. Gabriel Arias also drove in a run to put them up 2-0. The Guardians had a successful challenge when Steven Kwan was called out from a tag on first. The out was overturned, but nothing came of the play. The Boston Red Sox got their first run in the bottom of the fourth when Enmanuel Valdez got a home run to make it 2-1. The Guardians led going into the fifth.
Boston replaced Whitlock in the top of the fifth with Joely Rodriguez. The second batter up, Tyler Freeman, hit a home run to increase Cleveland’s lead to 3-1. The Guardians scored two more times in the fifth. The first was an RBI from Jose Ramirez. The second run was another successful challenge for Cleveland. Josh Naylor hit a line drive to right field, and Andres Gimenez was tagged by the catcher at home, but the call was overturned, making the score 5-1 Cleveland.
Tyler Beede replaced Bibee as the Guardians pitcher in the bottom of the sixth. The first batter, Triston Casas, hit a home run to make it 5-2. Cade Smith replaced Beede after Boston’s Connor Wong hit a two-run home run. Boston scored once more to take the lead 6-5. Brennan Bernardino replaced Rodriguez as pitcher for Boston in the seventh, and Eli Morgan replaced Smith for Cleveland.
Chris Martin replaced Bernardino in the 8th for Boston. Kenley Jansen replaced Martin in the ninth. Hunter Gaddis replaced Morgan as the pitcher for Cleveland in the ninth. Gimenez got an RBI on a single in the bottom ninth to tie the game 6-6 and go to extra innings.
Greg Weissert replaced Jansen for the Red Sox in the tenth inning, and Emmanuel Clase replaced Gaddis for Cleveland. Arias got another RBI to put the Guardians up 7-6, but Connor Wong also got an RBI for Boston to tie it again. Josh Winkowski replaced Weissert, and Scott Barlow replaced Clase. In the 11th, Ramirez and Estevan Florial got RBIs to put Cleveland up 10-7, and then Cleveland held off Boston in the bottom of the inning to win.
Game 3
Ben Lively started the pitching for Cleveland. He pitched five innings and gave up three hits, two runs, and one home run. He struck out seven and had an ERA of 3.60. Tanner Houck started for Boston and pitched the entire game, only giving up three hits and having an ERA of 1.35.
There was no scoring until the bottom of the third when Pablo Reyes scored on a balk, putting Boston up 1-0. The Red Sox scored again in the fourth when Connor Wong hit a homerun. There were no more runs for the rest of the game. Cleveland sent out Nick Sandlin to pitch in the sixth and replaced him with Wes Parsons in the seventh. Parsons gave up two hits. Boston wins 2-0.
Game 4
Carlos Carrasco started the pitching for Cleveland and pitched 5.2 innings. He gave up four hits and two runs and had five strikeouts. He finished with an ERA of 3.44. Brennan Bernardino started for Boston and only pitched two innings, striking out two and having an ERA of 1.23.
Boston started the scoring in the first with an RBI from Wilyer Abreu. Cooper Criswell replaced Bernardino in the third. Andres Gimenez drove home a run for the Guardians, tying the game 1-1. Cleveland continued the scoring in the top of the fourth with an RBI from Josh Naylor, making it 2-1. Joe Jacques replaced Criswell in the bottom of the fifth. The first batter after the change was Andres Gimenez, who drove home an RBI to make it 3-1 in Cleveland. Jose Ramirez notched another RBI, making it 4-1, and then stole second base. The Guardians scored another run in the top of the sixth when Ramon Laureano singled to left field to drive home Tyler Freeman.
Cleveland replaced Carrasco with Cade Smith in the bottom of the sixth. Shortly after, Boston’s Jarren Duran hit a triple to get two RBIs, making it 5-3. Guardians still led. Duran then scored on a balk, 5-4.
Justin Slaten replaced Jacques for Boston at the top of the seventh, and Tim Herrin replaced Smith for Cleveland at the bottom. Hunter Gaddis replaced Herrin in the eighth. Chris Martin replaced Slaten in the ninth, and Cleveland sent Emmanuel Clase to close the game. The Cleveland Guardians won the game 5-4 and the series 3-1.
The Cleveland Guardians’ next opponent is the Oakland Athletics. Their series starts Thursday, April 19, at 7:10 PM EST.
