Cleveland Pitching Stays Dominant as Guardians Cruise Past Orioles 5-1

Photo by Luigi Musto

CLEVELAND –

On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Guardians welcomed the Baltimore Orioles to town for the start of a 3-game series. This series will likely prove to be important for both team down the stretch. The Guardians entered the game with a 1.5-game lead over Minnesota for 1^st place in the AL Central division. Meanwhile, Baltimore entered the matchup 2 games back of the final wild card spot. They were also 10 games back of the NY Yankees for the division lead in the AL East. 

 

Cal Quantrill’s Quality Night

Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Cal Quantrill came into the game without a loss since July 5^th! Quantrill also boasted a 11-0 record in his career at Progressive Field coming in, including 6-0 this season. The Canadian-born Quantrill dominated the Orioles bats all game. He only gave up 1 hit, which came around to score, walked 3 batters, and struck out 4. Cal went 6 full innings making it the 6^th straight outings he has pitched at least 6 innings. The win for Quantrill moves his season record to 11-5. His next outing is set to be against the Seattle Mariners. 

 

Help From the Bats

 

Baltimore starting pitcher Spenser Watkins began the game by retiring the first 11 Guardians batters. It looked as though the game would be a pitcher’s duel. However, after a Jose Ramirez 2-out single in the 4th inning, Josh Naylor hit a go-ahead 2-run blast to center field. This proved to be all the Guardians needed for the win. Steven Kwan wanted to get in on the action though. With the bases loaded and 1 out in the 5^th, Kwan doubled home 2 runners to extend the Guardians lead. Amed Rosario followed with a sac fly to give Cleveland their 5-1 lead. The Guardians scored their 5 runs on 9 hits and left 6 runners on base. 

 

Bullpen Dominance

 

Entering the game, the Cleveland Guardians bullpen had not allowed an earned run in 27.1 consecutive innings. The record for the season is held by the Milwaukee Brewers. Their bullpen tossed 30.1 scoreless innings from their bullpen back in June. Tuesday night, the Guardians tied the record. They got 3 innings of scoreless and hitless baseball from Trevor Stephan, James Karinchak, and Emmanuel Clase. For Karinchak, it also extended his scoreless innings streak to an AL-leading 21.0 innings. 

 

Next Matchup

Wednesday night’s matchup will see Triston McKenzie of the Guardians facing off against Jordan Lyles of the Orioles. First pitch is slated for 6:10PM EST on Bally Sports Cleveland and WTAM 1100.