CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Sunday marks Cleveland’s MLB-leading 15th extra-inning game this season. With the loss, they now hold an 8-7 record in those games.
The Guardians fell to 8-10 in Interleague play at home and 16-20 overall this season. They’re 6-4 in their last 10 Interleague contests.
With the game on the line in the ninth inning, David Fry hit a solo home run to left field to tie the game at four. Progressive Field was loud as fans and players alike didn’t know if the 368-foot-long ball was a double or a dinger. The first base umpire was the first to signal the game-tying home run.
“Yeah I hit it really good and I thought it was gone, and then I looked up and the ball was bouncing back to left field,” Fry said. “I was like, ‘I better go’ and then I look at Sarbaugh and he’s like, ‘it’s a homer.’”
It was Fry’s first career game-tying plate appearance, and the last Guardians player with a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth at Progressive Field was Franmil Reyes on August 25th, 2019.
The Phillies scored four runs in the top of the 10th. Trea Turner walked and Bryce Harper hit an RBI single off Tim Herrin to start the inning. Then, J.T. Realmuto hit a sac fly and Alec Bohm hit a two-run single off Trevor Stephan. Herrin was charged with the first loss of his career (1-1, 5.55 ERA).
Cleveland put up a fight in extra innings. Steven Kwan had his fourth hit of the ballgame to score Will Brennan from second, and the Guardians managed to load the bases with no outs. Jose Ramirez flew out to shallow right field, Josh Naylor flew out to third base, and Myles Straw grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
Xzavion Curry made his second start of the season, the fourth of his career in the series finale. Curry threw 24 pitches in the first inning, 15 of them were balls. He fell behind in counts, allowed three walks, and a run scored on a bases-loaded balk.
“I would just say in that first inning, my direction towards the plate was just kinda off,” Curry said. “I just kinda had to correct my direction in the second and third inning.”
Curry was much more efficient after the first inning as he retired the last six batters he faced with 18 pitches. He gave up a run on one hit, allowed three walks, and struck out three batters in three innings. Curry’s now holding lefties to a .038 batting average since June 23rd.
“Uncharacteristically, he started out not throwing strikes but he got the double play so it wasn’t a big inning,” manager Terry Francona said. “But then, [he] settled in. His last inning was probably his best. Just trying to keep him to a point where we don’t lose him for four days, so that’s the idea when we stopped him when we did.”
In his last start, Aaron Nola was treated with a leadoff home run by Kyle Schwarber, and this time it was the opposing team who got the best of him as Kwan hit a ball 374 feet over the right field wall. It was Kwan’s fourth of the year and second leadoff home run of his career.
“I like Kwan every day,” Francona said. “You’re not going to get four hits every day. You’re not going to get a leadoff home run, but he’s a really good little player. He does a great job for us.”
While it wasn’t a leadoff home run, Andres Gimenez hit a solo home run of his own in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead. The ball was also hit over the right field wall. It traveled 388 feet and was Gimenez’s ninth of the campaign.
Cleveland scored another run in the third inning. Cam Gallagher and Kwan hit singles to open the inning, and Ramirez knocked in Gallagher on an RBI (56) ground ball to first.
Nola was checked by trainers in the second inning after throwing his 22nd pitch of the ballgame. His discomfort didn’t appear to hurt him moving forward as he pitched seven innings, didn’t issue a walk, and had seven strikeouts. The Guardians scored three runs on six hits off the Phillies starter. He’s gone at least six innings in 18 of his 21 starts in 2023. Nola has also pitched at least seven innings while allowing three or fewer earned runs in seven games this season.
Philadelphia scored two runs off reliever Sam Hentges in the fifth inning which tied the game at three. Brandon Marsh had a leadoff triple, and Schwarber hit an RBI single and scored on a Harper groundout. Hentges has given up six runs in his last two outings and nine runs in five appearances since the All-Star break.
The Phillies took the lead in the top of the sixth. Marsh hit a ball in no man’s land between left field and third base to score Realmuto. The ball was in Ramirez’s glove for a moment, but it fell out as Realmuto crossed home plate.
31,806 fans were in attendance for the game. With sellouts in the first two games against the Phillies, the Guardians had 108,003 fans at the park for the series. The last time Progressive Field had over 108,000 fans in attendance for a series was June 27th-June 29th, 2008 vs. Cincinnati (111,429).
The Guardians (49-50) welcome the Royals (28-73) into town tomorrow night for a three-game series. Kansas City has lost five games in a row and is tied for the worst record in baseball. Rookie left-hander Logan Allen (4-2, 3.21 ERA) will pitch for Cleveland in his 14th start of the season. Opposing him will be Ryan Yarbrough (2-5, 5.21 ERA) for the Royals.
