Guardians lose home opener to Giants
The Cleveland Guardians played host to the San Francisco Giants in their home opener and their offense was limited in a 4-1 loss. It was the work of former Chicago White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon who stifled the Guardians bats from the start.
Rodon allowed just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine in seven innings. This was reminiscent of last season when Rodon no-hit Cleveland in April, followed up by another impressive performance before Cleveland was finally able to get to him in their final matchup of the year.
Starting for the Guardians was Zach Plesac who pitched adequately overall. Plesac allowed two runs on even hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. The only issue is that Plesac allowed solo home runs to Brandon Crawford and Joc Pederson. Perhaps Pederson was sending a message to a team he criticized during the offseason for their spending habits.
It was a parade of relievers who followed Plesac. Trevor Stephan, Anthony Gose, Bryan Shaw, Anthony Castro, Sam Hentges, and Konnor Pickington who covered the final 3.2 innings. Pilkington was originally optioned to Triple-A earlier that day, but was recalled by the club after placing Yu Chang on the injured list.
The lone Cleveland run of the day came in the seventh off of Rodon. It was a sacrifice fly from Owen Miller which allowed Jose Ramirez to score. Cleveland was 0-4 with runners in scoring position in the contest. While there was not a high volume of opportunities, they did not come through when they needed to and that was problem.
