CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians aren’t built to play catch up.
Detroit starter Eduardo Rodriguez was staked to an early 5-0 lead and the Tigers never looked back as they took the series with a 5-0 win at Progressive Field.
Here are our Final 9 from another offensive snoozefest on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
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1. It’s getting difficult to describe just how bad the Guardians offense is, but watching paint dry might be more entertaining right now. The organization remains levelheaded and they aren’t overreacting, but some red flags are starting to wave.
2. Wednesday marked the fifth time this season the Guardians have been shut out. Whatever magic the ballclub possessed last year, it has yet to return to date in 2023. “We're not going to dig our head in the sand with those things,” hitting coach Chris Valaika said following the game. “I think internally we're going to keep going about our business the same way and stay consistent with our messaging. Nothing's changed from last year to this year, other than some early on results. So we're going to keep competing and I know the results haven't necessarily been here, but if we stay positive with these guys, stay consistent with that, I believe in them and we're going to come out the other end.”
3. The Guardians roll of scoring three or fewer runs continues. That’s now nine of their last 10 and the 24th time this season they’ve failed to put at least four on the board. They fell to 6-18 in those games with Wednesday’s loss.
4. With the way things have been going, all doubt was removed by the third inning, especially with Rodriguez on the mound for Detroit. Rodriguez threw seven scoreless innings for the Tigers and struck out eight bringing his season strikeout total to 41 in six starts. “He thrown two really good games against us now, and he's thrown four against the rest of the league,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “Pretty good. He’s got three really quality pitches and he commands extremely well. And today, couple instances where he lost it just for a second, but he reeled it right back in.”
5. Credit Peyton Battenfield for hanging in there and not forcing a blowtorch to be taken to the bullpen. “Early on, his fastball was getting him in trouble,” Francona said. “It was catching way too much of the plate. Fortunately, he kind of reeled it in the last three innings and kind of threw the ball. We’ve seen him throw it using his cutter a little bit more and more effectively. Just made some mistakes with his fastball.” Battenfield went six innings and was charged with five runs – four earned, on seven hits with four strikeouts. “I was probably missing up a little more than I wanted or not getting it up enough,” Battenfield said. “But I mean, feel like command wise I wasn't too far off today and had some things not really go my way. So it’s part of the game.”
6. It took no time for the Tigers to take control. Zach McKinstry singled on the first pitch of the game and went to second on a passed ball charged to catcher Mike Zunino. Javier Baez reached on an infield single after Guardians shortstop Amed Rosario lost his footing on the lip of the grass as he came up to throw. Riley Greene followed with a ground out to second to bring home McKinstry for a 1-0 Tigers lead. Andy Ibanez drove home Baez with a two-out doble to right center to make it 2-0.
7. In the third inning three more runs crossed the plate for Detroit and sewed this one up. Spencer Torkelson’s RBI single scored Baez, who doubled. Akil Baddoo followed with an RBI double to right. A throwing error on Guardians right fielder Gabriel Arias allowed the fifth run to score.
8. David Fry collected his first major league hit with a bloop single to right center in the bottom of the sixth for the Guardians. “It's really nice,” Fry said. “That the first at bat, hit it well and I was like, all right, I just need one to fall and [I] capped one over the second baseman’s head. It was nice.” It was one of very few highlights. “It was nice to get him to get that first hit out of the way,” Francona said.
9. This is the second time the Guardians lost a series to Detroit this season and it is their sixth series lost in their last seven. They are 8-13 over that stretch and have scored 51 runs.