Braves quiet sellout crowd at Progressive Field as Guardians fall short

Photo by Charles Murray

Cleveland- In June, the Guardians and Braves were two of MLB’s best offenses. Both clubs led the majors in several stats, most notably, Atlanta and Cleveland were the top 2 MLB teams in batting average. Also, both teams led the majors with 15 games of 10+ hits in June. However, the Braves brought the fireworks with the long ball on Monday night topping the Guards 4-2.

Gavin Williams took the the mound for Cleveland making his third career start. Coming off a stellar outing in Kansas City last week where he threw seven shutout innings. He became just the second pitcher in franchise history to throw 7.0+ innings with one-or-fewer hits allowed within their first two Major League Games.

Williams didn’t fare as well against Atlanta. Michael Harris II put the Braves on the board first when he went yard in the 3rd. He followed up with a second homer off Williams in the 5th.

The rookie felt the damage from the long ball as all four earned runs came off three homers. Williams knew he was facing an aggressive lineup and had this to say about his performance:

“I definitely didn’t have my best stuff tonight. There were some pitches over the middle of the plate…it showed.” Williams went on to comment about not getting some fair calls by the home plate ump “It’s baseball it happens…I can’t really do anything about that.”

Steven Kwan had three hits for the Guardians. He also scored a run off Amed Rosario’s single in the 7th which cut Atlanta’s lead in half. However, Cleveland was unable to muster any further offense.

Josh Naylor left the game in the 6th with pain in his right wrist. He’s set for an MRI on Tuesday to see the severity of the injury. Cleveland needs their hottest hitter so hoping it’s nothing significant. Naylor is the first Cleveland hitter with a .300-or-better average and 60+ RBI in the first 83 games of a season since Victor Martinez in 2007.

The Guardians will have Shane Bieber on the hill Tuesday night for Game Two of the series. First pitch is set for 7:10.