Guardians 1 - Reds 3: The Tale of Two Sliders

Game Recap for Sunday, May 18th, 2025 against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds faced off in the final game of a three game series. The Guardians were looking to avoid a sweep before heading to Minnesota to take on the Twins.

A first pitch hit-by-pitch got Steven Kwan aboard to kick off the game. During José Ramírez’ at bat, Kwan quickly stole second base on a perfect pitch low that required the Reds catcher to scoop before throwing unsuccessfully to second. José hit into a flyout to former Guardian Will Benson who made a great catch, running down the ball in right field for the first out, but advanced Kwan to third base. Carlos Santana and Gabriel Arias drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, but Jhonkensy Noel struck out for the second out of the inning. Andrew Abbott was struggling to pitch around the first few hitters but seemed to not struggle challenging the hitters lower in the order. Angel Martínez lined out to Elly De La Cruz to end the inning and strand four runners but not before tacking on almost 30 pitches to Abbott’s pitch count.

Luis Ortiz was able to keep Cincinnati from scoring first after allowing a lead off walk to Friedl and a single to Espinal. De La Cruz hit into a double play to relieve some of the pressure for Ortiz. With a runner on third, Austin Hays grounded out to Daniel Schneemann to retire the side. His quick work of the Reds continued in the bottom of the second, with Ortiz only allowing a single to Benson. The bottom of the third saw more baserunners than the Guards would have preferred. With one out, Ortiz walked Friedl again, but an unfortunate error by Arias prevented a much needed inning ending double play. Espinal hit directly to the shortstop, but Arias dropped the ball eliminating the double play then dropped the ball again to eliminate any chance of an out. Elly hit into a fielders choice for the second out of the inning. Ortiz struck out the next batter to retire the side with the Reds stranding two runners of their own.

Abbott made quick work of the Guardians in the top of the second. Will Wilson hit a lead off double, but was stranded at second. In the top of the third, José hit a lead off double, extending his on base streak to 16 games. With one out, José had a rare baserunning miscue and was easily picked off too far off of second base. In the top of the fourth, the Guards tried to build a two out rally. Will Wilson drew a walk and Schneemann hit a squibber to short, just beating out the throw to put runners on first and second. But, alas, both runners were stranded again with Austin Hedges hitting into a flyout.

In the bottom of the fourth the Reds finally broke the scoring seal. With one out and a runner on, Will Benson was thrown a slider again. For his fourth consecutive game, Will Benson hit a home run, putting the Reds up 2-0. Ortiz settled down immediately for the next inning, allowing only one base runner. With his 100th pitch of the game, Ortiz struck out Gavin Lux to retire the side. Ortiz finished the day with five complete innings pitched. He gave up two runs on six hits and two walks. Ortiz struck out seven batters.

Hunter Gaddis came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Gaddis threw Will Benson another slider. Will Benson hit another home run. Gaddis gave up a double to Connor Joe on a pop up that Carlos Santana dropped, but Joe was picked off at second to retire the side. Gaddis struck out two in his inning of work.

Cleveland finally scored a runner in the top of the seventh. Bo Naylor, pinch hitting for Austin Hedges, drew a lead off walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Carlos Santana hit a single to right that scored Bo, breaking up the shutout.

Kolby Allard was very effective against the Reds. Allard pitched a clean seventh inning, facing the minimum. Allard came back out in the eighth, giving up a single but remaining on top of the Reds. Notably, Allard did not throw Benson a slider and retired the side.

The Guards pieced together a last chance rally in the top of the ninth. Bo Naylor hit a lead off double to right and José hit a one out single to bring up the tying run to the plate. Carlos Santana put up a nice at bat, fighting off a lot of pitches. Santana was struck out on the tenth pitch for the second out. This brought up Will Brennan who was brought in a defense substitute for Kyle Manzardo who pinch hit for Gabriel Arias back in the seventh. Will took a great ball one that the ump called strike one then fouled off what would have been ball two if the ump wasn’t calling them strikes all day. Brennan struck out swinging, his first strike out since being called up, on a low cutter to end the game.

The Guardians move on to Minnesota tomorrow to take on the Twins. Lefty Logan T. Allen and RHP Bailey Ober will face off as the projected starting pitchers. The Twins finally lost today, but are still half a game ahead of the Guards in the central standings. First pitch is at 7:40 PM EDT in Minneapolis.