With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the 9th the Guardians were looking to extend the game to extras for a chance to win. Unfortunately Cleveland Miguel Cabrera had other ideas. The future hall of famer proceeded to hit a walk-off RBI single to hand the Guardys a 4-3 loss.
Prior to the Cabrera’s walk-off single there was a fairly prolonged scoring drought. The two clubs combined for six runs in three innings before going scoreless until the 9th. Detroit scored two runs over the first two innings while Cleveland answered in the 3rd with three runs. It was Luke Maile who got the Guardians on the board first followed by an Owen Miller two-run double to tie the game. After the 3rd inning there were several three up and three down innings by both teams which led to a finish just under three hours.
Pitching for the Guardians was Konnor Pilkington, essentially a last second replacement for Aaron Civale who landed on the IL with a glute injury. Pilkington would allow three runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts in just 3.1 innings of work. Inefficiency would be the way to describe this outing as Pilkington threw 87 pitches 49 of which were for strikes. The Guardians pitcher was lucky to be facing an offensively inept squad in Detroit. If a competent offensive team of any kind was in the other dugout Pilkington’s night could have been over earlier with much more damage on the scoreboard.
Looking forward
The Guardians are now 18-23 on the year which has them in third place in the AL Central, seven games back of the division leading Twins. There are three more games left in Detroit for Cleveland to get back on the right track and being their record closer to .500. If not, some players could be on their way out as the club could become an early seller.
