The Cleveland Baseball Club managed to avoid being swept in Pittsburgh by defeating the Pirates by a score of 2-1 Sunday.
The trip to Pittsburgh was not going well for the Cleveland Baseball Club as they dropped the first two games against one of the worst teams in baseball. Facing the possibility of being swept by the Pirates, Cleveland made sure that did not happen with a slim one-run victory.
The game was scoreless until the 5th inning when Harold Ramirez came up and launched a solo home run to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.
It was the third home run for Harold Ramirez in two games as the former Marlin appears to be quite comfortable at the plate as of late.
After the Pirates tied the game at 1 in the 6th, it was Josh Naylor who came to the rescue with a RBI single which drove in Eddie Rosario.
Cleveland only managed four hits and two walks in the contest, not necessarily a dynamic offensive output. The team really needs some answers to fix the offense if they plan on competing this season. Luckily Cleveland was able to get an impressive outing from their pitching staff to come away with a win.
Sam Hentges started the game for Cleveland, pitching five shutout innings and only allowing two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. This was by far the best start of the season for Hentges, even though he did not come away with a win.
Sam Hentges started the game for Cleveland, pitching five shutout innings and only allowing two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. This was by far the best start of the season for Hentges, even though he did not come away with a win.
Phil Maton pitched the 6th, giving up the only Pirates run of the game on a Jacob Stallings RBI single. Maton struck out three batters and allowed three hits in his one inning of work.
Trevor Stephan relieved Maton and allowed just one hit and one walk in the contest. This was the last Pittsburgh hit of the game.
The 8th inning belonged to Emmanuel Clase and he kept the Pirates off the base-paths. This was the third hold of the year for Clase.
James Karinchak struck out one batter in the 9th as he came away with his eighth save of the season.
