Guardians salvage series with comeback win over Dodgers

With their backs against the wall on Wednesday afternoon, the Cleveland Guardians knew it was going to take everything they were going to avoid losing their fourth straight game.

Trailing the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 4-2 in the 8th inning, Guards Ball would go into full effect. A couple of infield singles and a walk followed by a strikeout set the stage. Nolan Jones would come up to the plate and deliver with a one-out two-RBI double, tying the game at four. A pretty solid start, but what came next was the real difference-maker.

After watching two mid-80s change-ups come over for balls, Angel Martinez would get the fastball he was looking for. Martinez crushed a 91 MPH middle-middle fastball from Alex Vesia, promptly giving the Guardians a 7-4 lead. The three-run shot from Martinez is what the entire inning was building toward. A steady stream of players ahead of him getting on base and doing their own damage before the second backbreaking extra-base hit of the inning injected excitement into Cleveland’s dugout, resulting in a rare lead over Los Angeles.

With a newly acquired three-run lead in hand, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase came on to seal the deal and would do so rather effortlessly. 10 pitches are all Clase needed to dispose of the Dodgers in the 9th, securing a long overdue Guardians win.

Guardians find themselves in a very familiar position

This was the 30th win of the season for the Guardians, and it could not have come at a better time. Cleveland had dropped two straight to Los Angeles after taking three of four in Detroit against the Tigers. Struggling against the Dodgers, combined with the Tigers sweeping the San Francisco Giants, has the Guardians in the exact same spot a week ago. Trailing Detroit by 6 games in the AL Central.

Being in the same position they were before making up some ground on Detroit is pretty rough. The Guardians were clearly the better team last week in Detroit, and now, they have pretty much nothing to show for it. The head-to-head wins over Detroit are nice, and could even prove useful later in the year. However, that does not make what transpired over the past few days any less discouraging.

There are still a ton of games left to play, and the Guardians will have their chance to make some noise in the division. Hopefully, they will be able to build upon a successful inter-division series next time around rather than see their progress disappear entirely.

Up next for the Guardians: A three-game series at home against Los Angeles’ other team, the Angels.