The Tampa Bay Rays broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the 9th by scoring six runs and handing Cleveland a 10-5 loss, their second straight at home.
The struggles of the Cleveland Baseball Club bullpen continue. A day after giving up two runs in the 9th in a 5-4 loss, Cleveland allowed six runs en route to a 10-5 loss. Five of the six runs allowed were charged to Nick Wittgren who allowed. leadoff single to Randy Arozareana and followed that up by hitting Kevin Kiermaier with a pitch. Wittgren’s second pitch to Joey Wendle resulted in a tie-breaking RBI single. After inducing a line out from Brandon Lowe, Ji-Man Choi crushed a three-run bomb to give Tampa a 8-4 lead. Wittgren would walk Nelson Cruz before being lifted for Blake Parker. Parker would go on to allow one run on two hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
Zach Plesac started the game for Cleveland and was hit around early by Tampa and a comedy of errors in the 2nd did not help matters as two runs came around to score on an error from Jose Ramirez. Plesac would allow four runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings with three strikeouts and. two walks. The least surprising development in this game was that the newly acquired Nelson Cruz clobbered a home run off of Plesac.
Before the collapse in the 9th things were going fairly well for Cleveland. After being down 4-0 early, Jose Ramirez single handedly brought the team back. First it was with a three-run homer in the 3rd inning.
š£ļø THREE-RUN HOME RUN PITCH! š#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/PCwtl2cfYD
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) July 24, 2021
Ramirez would later tie the game at 4 with a RBI triple in the 7th.
SAFE!!!
JosĆ© RamĆrez ties this one up with a triple!#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/GRu4ckcjgX
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) July 24, 2021
Cleveland would score one more time in the contest as Daniel Johnson hit a solo home run with the game all but over.
