Bo Ball Leads Way for Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians have won their 10th game of the season after sinking the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ship. It got dicey in the end, but they held on for the 10-7 victory on the back of Bo Naylor, who’s three-for-five night led the way.
Naylor had three RBIs on the night, which started with his second home run of the season in the third inning. He is now up to six on the season, and this was a night he needed after struggling at the plate as of late. While his average is still around .214, this is a game that could propel an upward trend for the young catcher’s season, even after 19 games into 2025.
Other notable hitters for the Guardians:
- Gabriel Arias went two for five with two RBIs (10) on the season. Also scored two runs in the process.
- Kyle Manzardo went one for four with a walk and an RBI (12th)
- Jhonkensy Noel came in to pinch-hit for Nolan Jons and finished the night with a one-for-three, picking up two RBIs in the process
- Jose Ramirez, Lane Thomas, and Steven Kwan all picked up two hits each in their combined 13 at-bats, scoring four runs (Thomas and Ramirez – two each)
The Guardians’ bats showed up in Game 1 of the series against the Pirates at PNC Park, picking up 10 runs on 14 hits. Thankfully, the 10 runs are what they needed because the Pirates managed to claw their way back to make it a three-run game before Emmanuel Clase came in to close out the victory.
Luis Ortiz picked up his second win of the season after pitching five solid innings, striking out eight along the way. He only gave up two runs on four hits, one of those being a home run to Oneil Cruz in the first inning. Overall, a great pitching performance from Ortiz, who’s seen over eight strikeouts in his two recent starts. Talk about a turnaround after his game back in San Diego.
Cade Smith dealt well, per usual, as he struck out one in one inning of work. He did give up a hit, but that did not matter as his ERA went down to 1.80 on the season. Tim Herrin, Jakub Junis, and Paul Sewald made the game more interesting than it needed to be as they gave up five runs combined in the 7th and 9th innings. Before the three-run bottom 7th and the two-run bottom 9th, the Guardians were up 10-2. Junis gave up two runs in 1.1 innings of work, and Sewald gave up two in .2 innings of relief in a rare lapse of command for him this year. Clase came into the game (looked like he still needed to warm up in walking Joey Bart) and got Jack Suwinski swinging to earn his third save of the season.
Regardless of the nerve-wracking slight comeback from the Pirates, the Guardians held on to win and are now 10-9 on the season with Game 2 of the series coming on Saturday. Ben Lively is getting the start for the Guardians, while Paul Skenes will be the starter for the Pirates.