Tigers 7 - Guardians 2: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.

The Cleveland Guardians (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) were trying to avoid the series sweep today against the best team in the AL, the Detroit Tigers.

Fans were treated to an absolute pitching treat today. Going into the fourth, both Gavin Williams and Paul Skubal were throwing a no hitter. Gavin had walked the lead off batter, but with the combination of strike outs and great defense, he had a no hitter going into the top of the fifth.

In the top of the fifth, Gavin had two quick outs but then got into some trouble. Gavin walked a batter then gave up his first hit of the game. Javier Báez singled to right to put runners on the corners. Another walk loaded the bases for Colt Keith, but Gavin settled down and struck him out to escape the side unscathed.

Gavin Williams came back to finish a solid, quality start. He pitched 6.0 complete innings of one hit baseball. Gavin allowed three walks and struck out eight on 97 pitches.

Hunter Gaddis came on in the seventh and threw a great outing, not allowing a single base runner and carrying that momentum from Gavin through to the eighth. Gaddis came out in the eighth and got two quick outs before manager Stephen Vogt went to Erik Sabrowski for the match up. Sabrowski got into a bit of a pickle, walking the first two batters he faced. Riley Greene was called out on strikes to retire the side.

The Cleveland offense broke up the no-hitter first. In the bottom of the fourth Steven Kwan hit a single for Cleveland’s only base runner until the bottom of the seventh. In the bottom of the fifth Will Wilson hit a long fly ball to center that fell just short of a home run at the wall. Angel Martínez hit a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh to put Cleveland’s first runner in scoring position on, but was left stranded.

In the bottom of the eighth, Detroit turned to Bailey Horn to replace Tarik Skubal. With one out, Austin Hedges hit a single to left and was lifted for pinch-runner, Daniel Schneemann. Brayan Rocchio drew a walk and Steven Kwan hit a RBI double to right giving the Guards a one run lead.

In the top of the ninth, closer Emmanuel Clase was brought out to shut down the side. The lead off batter was hit by pitch and lifted for a pinch-runner. In an overturned play the base runner was able to steal second base with one out, putting the game tying run in scoring position. A groundout advanced the runner to third with two outs. Clase was looking to shut the book on the game and be the hero when a bounced ball went through the five hole to the back stop, allowing the tying run to score.

Just when things looked like they would turn in favor of the Guards, Cade Smith had an absolute melt down in extras. Cade gave up 6R/4ER between the ghost runner, the Rocchio error, and the multiple home runs.

Cade got hit on a come backer, he deflected it to his glute. Thankfully avoiding his arm/hand. He was replaced by Jakob Junis who finished the inning.

Kwan scored the ghost runner in the bottom of the tenth.

The Guards have lost 10 straight games, the first time since 2012.