At least it wasn’t a shutout this time!
Game two of four for the Tigers against the Guardians and they were looking to bounce back from a rough first outing of the series. The Tigers had Jackson Jobe up against Slade Cecconi for the Guardians, and can we pause for a moment to appreciate that those names are definitely the off-duty names for a Marvel superhero and supervillain?
The Guardians were most certainly the villains in tonight’s narrative. In the top of the first, Steven Kwan got a leadoff double, then one out later, Jose Ramirez hit a triple to bring the first run of the game in. With two outs, Carlos Santana singled off a broken bat to bring Ramirez home and put the Guardians up 2-0. In the home half, Colt Keith got a two-out double, but was left stranded.
In the second, Bo Naylor got a one-out single, but that was it for the Guardians in that inning. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
Jose Ramirez got a one-out walk in the top of the second, then successfully stole second. Kyle Manzardo walked. But Jobe collected the final two outs of the inning to keep the Tigers within two. In the home half, things took a similar path. With two outs, Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres took back-to-back walks, but were both left stranded.
In the fourth, the Guardians got a baserunner in the form of a hit-by-pitch to poor Gabriel Arias, but three outs followed. In the bottom of the inning, Dillon Dingler singled to start things off, Then, with one out, Trey Sweeney singled, getting Dingler to third. However, with two on and two outs, a strikeout ended the inning scoreless and runners stranded once again.
The fifth was a much-needed 7-pitch outing for Jobe, who got the Guardians out in order. In the bottom half, Carpenter legged out a double with one out. Of course, because the Tigers are simply never going to score another run, they got two outs in a row to end the inning.
After five innings, Jackson Jobe’s night was done. His final line was 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, on 89 pitches. A rough first inning, for sure, but he limited the damage after that. Tyler Holton replaced him and got the Guardians out 1-2-3. In the home half, the Tigers finally decided to score some runs! Spencer Torkelson obliterated a home run into left field. It was the only run of the inning, but it sure helped the mood at the time.
In the seventh, Kwan got a two-out single, which brought Beau Brieske in. He got the final out of the inning. In the home half, Javier Baez got a one-out double, but the Tigers weren’t able to bring him home. This was the story of the whole game.
For the Guardians eighth, they got a one-out baserunner in Kyle Manzardo. Then with two outs Daniel Schneemann walked, and that was it for Brieske, who was replaced by Chase Lee. Lee collected the final out of the inning. The Tigers went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the ninth, Naylor got a leadoff triple. Trey Sweeney saved a run by blocking a ground ball from Nolan Jones. Unfortunately, Kwan hit a single to left easily and scored Naylor. The Tigers got the next two outs.
In the home half, Emmanuel Clase came in to make things extra difficult. With two outs, a freshly activated Matt Vierling came to the plate. It would have been nice if Vierling had a big J.D. Martinez-style hero moment, but it wasn’t meant to be. But hey, at least they weren’t shut out this time. A very frustrating series so far indeed.
RHP Casey Mize will be activated and return to start on Saturday. Tarik Skubal is in line to close out the series, but now we’re just left hoping for a split.
Final: Guardians 3, Tigers 1