Game Recap: Guardians 5 - Pirates 4

Guardians scrap together a win in extras.

Game three of the series went to the Cleveland Guardians. After a dominant start from Logan Allen, the Pirates fought their way back in the bottom of the ninth, but the Guardians got the sweep.

LTA had another strong start, only allowing one hit through the third inning - a single to Tommy Pham. In the bottom of the fourth two Pirates made contact, but Logan was helped out by Kyle Manzardo. Manzardo made a spectacular play at first to stop the runner on 3rd from scoring and to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Pirates tried to start mounting a rally as the pitch count ticked higher for Allen. An RBI single down the LF line off the bat of McCutchen was the first earned run for LTA this season. Allen finished the game allowing one run on five hits and one walk. He struck out five batters in 5.2 innings of work.

Paul Sewald came in to finish the sixth inning and made what was almost a disasterous error. A pick off attempt at second went to center field, allowing the runner to reach third. Sewald struck out the final batter to end the inning without any damage.

Guardians offense started the game picking away at the Pirates starting pitcher, Mitch Keller. A walk from José Ramírez in the first, a single by Angel Martínez, and a six pitch AB helped wear Keller down. In the top of the third Brayan Rocchio hit a lead off single and Steven Kwan cleared the bases on the first pitch.

The Guardians kept getting to Keller, driving his pitch count up to 101 by the end of the fifth forcing the starter out of the game before the sixth inning.

In the top of the seventh, José Ramírez hit a two-out single and stole secondbase uncontested. Kyle Manzardo continued his successful campaign against the Pirates and launched another home run. His 374ft homer put the Guards up 4-1.

Hunter Gaddis pitched the seventh inning for the Guardians. He allowed back to back singles after striking out the first two batters. Gaddis worked out of the inning as the last batter hit into a flyout caught by Steven Kwan. Jacob Junis saw three hitters and sent three hitters down. He struck out one.

Emmanuel Clase came in for his third straight game of work. Clase allowed a walk and two doubles before recording the first out - putting the Pirates within one of the Guardians. An uncontested stolen base and a single scored the game tying run and put the winning run on first. Bryan Reynolds hit a single back to the pitcher which hit Clase in his back knee. Clase wasn't able to field it, putting the running run in scoring position and a trainer visit to the mound. McCutchen hit into a double play, sending the game into extras.

The Guardians got the go ahead run in during the top of the tenth with two outs that advanced the ghost run home. That was the only run scored in the tenth when the Guards turned to Joey Cantillo to finish out the game. Cantillo walked the first batter, putting two on with the ghost runner. Cantillo came back and got a double play to lighten the pressure a bit. With two outs Cantillo threw some great strikes that the umpire called a ball. But the Guards end up on top with a flyout to Jhonkensy in right to end the game.

CLE 5 - PIT 4 in 10.

Box Score

Guardians go up 12-9 on the year and head home to face the New York Yankees. First pitch is at 6:10 PM EDT with Gavin Williams taking the mound.