CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With the 4-1 loss in the series finale, the Guardians fell to 3-7 against the Tigers this season and have lost the season series against the Motor City for the first time since 2015.
Spencer Torkelson was responsible for putting the Tigers on the board early. Torkelson hit a two-run home run in the first inning off Guardians starter Logan Allen. Detroit hit a home run in the first inning in three of the four games in the series.
listen to 92.3 the fan
“It’s not a great recipe for success, I can tell you that,” manager Terry Francona said. “It’s just a hard way to play especially when runs are kinda hard to come by for us.”
The two-run homer was the only damage that Logan Allen would allow in the game. Allen settled in after the first inning and retired the last 11 batters he faced. In his first career start against Detroit, he pitched six innings, walked two batters, and recorded five strikeouts on 99 pitches, 57 of which were strikes. Allen suffered his sixth loss of the season.
“Just battled the first four innings, probably five innings honestly,” Allen said. “Wasn’t great with the efficiency, threw a lot of balls I think. They’re an aggressive team, just got to do a better job executing.”
Detroit tallied two more runs immediately following Allen’s exit. Enyel De Los Santos gave up a home run to Kerry Carpenter, hit Javier Baez with a pitch, gave up a balk, and RBI single to Akil Baddoo. Carpenter’s long ball was his third in his last five games played.
Steven Kwan recorded the Guardians first hit in the fourth inning. He was feet shy of hitting his sixth home run of the year but settled at second base with a leadoff double. Ramon Laureano drove in Kwan with an RBI single to center field. Laureano has tallied a hit in five of his nine starts with Cleveland.
“I think it’s a chance for a guy to kinda resurrect maybe what once was pretty promising,” Francona said about Laureano. “I think offensively it’s been some in between. We’ve hit him and Kole [Calhoun] in the middle of the order just because we’re trying to protect some of these younger guys. That might not be the best, ideal place for them but kinda where we are.”
That was the only run scored by the Guardians in the game. Cleveland’s offense left three runners on base and had four hits in the series finale loss.
Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez pitched 6.2 innings against the Guardians. He allowed one earned run on four hits, and had six strikeouts on 105 pitches. Rodriguez improved to 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA against Cleveland in his career.
“The games he’s pitched against us have been good,” Francona said. “You know he kinda criss-crosses the plate. He can run it in on the lefties, he can spin it away, and then for the righties, he can changeup away. He’s a pretty good veteran left-handed pitcher.”
Sunday’s series finale was Miguel Cabrera’s final game played at Progressive Field. He went 1-4 and hit a single in his last at-bat. At the moment, Cabrera is one of five players with a .300-or-better-average, 50+ home runs, and 175 RBI against Cleveland in their career. He was gifted a guitar with his name and number on it in an on-field celebration prior to Sunday’s first pitch.
26,824 fans were in attendance for the 4-1 loss. This was Cleveland’s first time losing a four-game series this season, and they have now lost 15 of their last 22 games.
The Guardians (59-66) have an off day tomorrow before welcoming the Dodgers (76-47) into town on Tuesday for a three-game series. Noah Syndergaard (2-6, 6.57 ERA) is scheduled to open the series for the Guardians against his former team. Bobby Miller (7-2, 3.70 ERA) will pitch for Los Angeles. The Dodgers are 9-1 in their last 10 games.