CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) - The Cleveland Guardians split a Wednesday doubleheader against the San Diego Padres.
The West Coast visitors took the first game, 5-4, while the Guardians staged a late rally to win Game 2, 6-5, via a Steven Kwan walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
GAME 1
The Guardians faced off with its former pitcher Mike Clevinger, who was handed a no-decision in his first game since undergoing elbow surgery, which had sidelined the right-hander since the 2020 offseason.
"It was overwhelming at first," Clevinger stated after the game. "But it was amazing."
Clevinger went 4.2 innings and allowed four hits and three earned runs while totaling four strikeouts and three walks on 95 pitches.
"With what I've been through the past two years, this is just another day. Another day in the life," Clevinger added. "It's just accepting the challenge, and trying to have fun with it. I had a lot of fun out there 'til the last inning."
Zach Plesac took the loss for Cleveland in a five-inning performance, in which he allowed five hits, four runs four walks, and a 2-run home run to Manny Machado, which gave San Diego a 3-0 lead in the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Guardians earned a run back on Steven Kwan's RBI single - his eighth run driven in. Cleveland then tied the game in the fifth on Josh Naylor's 2-run single off reliever Steven Wilson. Naylor also roped a double to go 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
"I think he's been pretty good since he's been back," Guardians manager Terry Francona commented on Naylor after the game. "When he uses the whole field, he gets especially dangerous...He had some good at-bats."
However, the Padres, took back the lead on Austin Nola's run-scoring double in the top of the 6th and added to said lead with a Jake Cronenworth sacrifice fly off Guardians reliever Enyel De Los Santos.
Plesac dropped to 1-3 on the season with the loss.
GAME 2
The Padres wasted no time in getting on the board in the second game, tabbing Guardians starter Cal Quantrill for three runs courtesy of a 2-run double by Eric Hosmer and a Ha-Seong Kim RBI single.
The Guardians scratched a run back in the bottom of the 3rd when Padres starter MacKenzie Gore (5.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts) allowed a bases-loaded walk, though Gore managed to escape the inning further unscathed.
Cleveland cut more into the Padres' lead in the 7th when Ernie Clement's double careened off the left-field wall, allowing Austin Hedges to score from first base just ahead of the tag. However, the Padres scored a pair of runs in the 8th on a Jurickson Profar RBI double and a bases-loaded walk - both allowed by reliever Trevor Stephan.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Guardians began to simmer the pot with two outs and two runners on when a Machado error allowed Owen Miller to score from second. He was then followed by a Hedges bloop single to right field that made it a 5-4 game with runners at the corners.
Naylor then pinch-hit for Clement and promptly stroked a single to right-center that scored Miller and tied the game at 5-all.
The game would extend into the 10th inning, where the Guardians would reach runners on first and second with nobody out. Steven Kwan, who entered the game in the 6th inning via pinch-hit, ripped a grounder between first and second to end the game in a Guardians victory.
ObiKwan.#ForTheLand | #GuardiWins pic.twitter.com/qHYj6eRny3
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 5, 2022
Cleveland ended the day with an 11-13 record. They are scheduled to play the first of a four-game homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, with Aaron Civale (0-2, 10.67 ERA) scheduled to start for the Guardians.
