Game Recap: Red Sox 13 - Guardians 3

Here’s to hoping that this is the worst game of the year.

The Cleveland Guardians took on the Boston Red Sox in a day time rubber match. Boston walked away with a resounding victory over the Guardians in what can only be described as a sloppy game for Cleveland.

Logan Allen started off with another strong first inning for his start. Allen gave up a lead off single to Jarren Duran. Will Wilson (3B) turned some routine plays to help LTA out of the first inning, but a throwing error from Ángel Martínez allowed Duran to advance to third, upping the pressure on the pitcher before Trevor Story grounded out for the final out.

The Guards tried to give Allen some early run support. Steven Kwan hit a lead off double and moved to third on a sac bunt from Ángel. Unfortunately Kwan was tagged out at home plate after José Ramírez hit directly to the first baseman who was able to quickly throw to the catcher for a fielders choice out.

The Red Sox struck first in the top of the second. Rob Refsnyder hit a lead off homer to left off of Allen to put the Red Sox on the board. A one-out walk and single put runners on the corners. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a flyout to Martínez in center, but an error on the throw in allowed a runner to score. The error was awarded to Martínez, his second of the game. Allen gave up another single before they finally got out of the inning.

The second inning started the same way as inning one; a lead off double. Bo Naylor, after hitting the double, ran himself into the first out of the inning by trying to steal third base. Will Wilson hit a two-out single, but Rocchio hit directly to the first baseman’s glove for the final out.

Allen had a fantastic third inning, only allowing a single to Refsnyder after striking out the first two batters. But a lead off double and a sac fly in the fourth put the Red Sox up 3-0. In the top of the fifth, Allen gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to lead off the fifth inning. Refsnyder hit into a bases loaded sacrifice fly that almost resulted in an outfield collision between Martínez and Jones to score another runner. Allen walked another to reload the bases forcing Stephen Vogt to make a pitching change.

Paul Sewald replaced Allen and gave up a RBI single to Kristian Campbell. Campbell stole second and another throwing error, this time on Daniel Schneemann, allowed Romy Gonzalez to steal home, putting the Red Sox up 7-0. An RBI ground-rule double that Nolan Jones lost in the sun notched another run for the Red Sox before the inning finally ended. In the top of the sixth the Guardians turned to Jakob Junis who gave up a lead off homer to Rafael Devers, but that was the only damage he allowed from the Red Sox.

The Guardians offense woke up a bit in the bottom of the sixth. Martínez drew a lead off walk and José hit a single. Nolan Jones came up to bat and with a 1-1 count hit a 411 foot home run to right center, his first of the season and first since June 29 of last year.

This is the power everyone said was coming and hopefully will be here to stay. Schneemann also hit a single this inning, continuing his 8 game on base streak.

Joey Cantillo replaced Junis for the top the seventh. He had an awful outing. Things kicked off with another fielding error, this time by third baseman Will Wilson that allowed the lead off hitter Gonzalez to reach first. Gonzalez stole second on a wild pitch. A walk and a force out had runners on the corner with one out. Another wild pitch allowed a runner to advance but it really didn’t matter, because the next batter launched their own 3-run bomb on Cantillo. Cantillo settled in the top of the eighth with a groundout and two strikeouts to end the inning. Austin Hedges closed things out for the Guardians. His career scoreless inning streak unfortunately ended with a Duran RBI double, but Hedgey otherwise was unscathed by the Red Sox offense.

This was certainly a game I’m sure the club will want to forget immediately. But with the amount of errors, the mental lapses, and sheer sloppiness demonstrated by not only the defense, but also the runners, you would hope there are a lot of lessons to be taken away from this disappointing loss.

Final Score: BOS 13 - CLE 3

The Guards roll right into the next series against the Minnesota Twins. Game one of four starts at 6:10 PM EDT tomorrow night at Progressive Field with Gavin Williams taking the mound for the Guardians.