CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Cal Quantrill ran into some trouble early before settling in, but the Cleveland Guardians struggled to capitalize offensively Saturday night.
The Seattle Mariners held on for a 3-2 victory thanks to Cleveland’s bats going cold.
“We had chances,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “We had runners on, it seemed like all game. Some of that is their pitching though, getting out of it.”
Here’s our Final 9 after Seattle won for the second time in as many days to take the weekend series.
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1. Quantrill labored through the first inning as five of the first six Mariners reached – four with singles but he escaped trailing 2-0. “The first inning was a struggle,” Francona said. “Thankfully he got out of it with the two because it looked, I mean pitch count was up and man, that's the last thing you want to do but he competed.” Quantrill threw 35 pitches in the inning that saw Seattle score a pair of runs off RBI singles by Eugenio Suarez and Jarred Kelenic. “Definitely took a while to settle in today, throw strikes,” Quantrill, who had to replace the pitch com unit during the inning, said. “Made a couple plays at the end there to get out of that first inning, but it's a little bit too late.”
2. Suarez collected another RBI single off Quantrill in the top of the second with two out for a 3-0 Mariners lead but the Guardians’ starter settled in and retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced to get through five innings pitched. Quantrill walked one and struck out three while allowing seven hits in suffering his first loss of the season and first regular season loss at home. He entered Saturday’s game 14-0 at Progressive Field. “Does that matter? Came to the end of the playoffs last year,” Quantrill said.
3. The Guardians had plenty of opportunities but went 3-12 with runners in scoring position and they left a dozen on base in the loss. “I think just good pitching allows for that,” left fielder Steven Kwan, who was 1-4 with a single and a walk, said. “It's baseball sometimes. I mean, we hit a lot of hard balls. I think Rosario hit a ball in the gap and [they] made a good play. Josey hit a ball right at short stop. I mean, just because the results weren’t there doesn't mean we weren’t right in it. So that's baseball.”
4. Myles Straw extended his hit streak to eight games by getting the Guardians on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double to right center that brought home Andres Gimenez, who led the inning off with a double, to cut Seattle’s lead to 3-1.
5. Gimenez chased Seattle left hander Marco Gonzales with a two-out double in the bottom of the sixth, his second in as many innings off Gonzales, to put runners at second and third. Will Brennan pinch hit for catcher Mike Zunino but flew out harmlessly to right field t end the threat and inning. Gonzales ended up scattering six hits and allowing just the one run in 5 2/3 innings.
6. Jose Ramirez’s hit streak to start the season rolls on – now nine and 14 games overall dating back to 2022 – after he blooped an RBI double to right field scoring Straw, who led the bottom of the seventh inning off with a walk, to pull the Guardians within 3-2.
7. Amed Rosario collected three hits in five plate appearances Saturday evening.
8. Seattle handed the Guardians their first series loss of the season with Saturday’s victory, but Cleveland can still win the season series with a win in the finale Sunday afternoon.
9. Despite the chilly temps, the Guardians announced their largest second day crowd since 2015 with a paid attendance of 17,489.