Off back-to-back sweeps at the hands of the Yankees and Angels, the Cleveland Guardians needed to turn things around and that they did. Cleveland came to Oakland and was able to continue their early season trend of trading sweeps with their opponents. The Guardians came away with three wins in Oakland, each less dramatic than the one that preceded it.
Game 1 featured clutch at-bats from both teams as the lead changed hands multiple times. Powering the Guardians was Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, and Josh Naylor in their homer based attack.
The second game of the series featured less run scoring, but some high drama late. Richie Palacios drove in two runs in the top of the 9th to break the 1-1 tie. This set up Emmanuel Clase for a easy save, his fourth of the season. This was a much needed outing after blowing a save earlier in the week.
Sunday’s series finale was a contest in name only. The Guardians built a lead early and added on inning after inning, eventually leading 7-0. Cleveland had every starter in their lineup record a hit before two late game replacements came on going 0-1 in one at-bat. Triston McKenzie had a bounceback start, shutting out the A’s over 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts and just four hits allowed.
The Guardians will return home after going 3-7 on their road trip, now sitting at 10-12 on the year. It is a quick two game series at home versus San Diego before Toronto comes in for a four game set to end the week. Both the Padres and Blue Jays should provide tough competition for the Guardians, perhaps they can rise up to their opponent this time around instead of being on the wrong end of a sweep.
