Emmanuel Clase proves he’s mortal as Guardians lose to the Tigers

Photo by Charles Murray

Cleveland- Shadows and Skubal were two words heard all afternoon prior to Monday’s game. The shadows didn’t appear to be an issue however, Skubal was.

When Steven Vogt was asked about Detroit’s ace, pregame, he had this to say,

“He’s got four pitches to get you out with, and he knows where he’s putting them, and it’s elite stuff. So it’s a tough combination to try and create offense against. And so we got our work cut out for us.”

Matthew Boyd took the hill for Guardians. The 33-year-old left-hander was making his first career start against his former club – Detroit. He spent eight seasons in the motor city before being acquired by Cleveland in June. Boyd had a span of 414 games in between starts while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

He gave the Guardians a solid start going 4.2 innings giving up four hits and no runs while fanning five batters. Boyd talked about the difference in mindset during regular season and postseason:

“The game is the same. You go pitch and, I mean, get as many outs as you can while it’s asked, and then let the manager, let Vogter pull back on the reins when it’s time to flip it to somebody else sort of thing. Mentality shouldn’t change. Outs are outs, and you just go get them as long as you’re told to.”

One thing that has been a constant for the Guardians is their bullpen. Monday night was the same as Cade Smith, Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis all kept the Tigers scoreless.

Then with two outs in the top of the ninth, Kerry Carpenter did what not many players have done. He hit a 3-run homer off of Emmanuel Clase and Cleveland couldn’t answer back giving Clase the loss as the series evens to 1-1. The Guardians’ closer had thrown 8.0-scoreless innings entering Carpenter’s at-bat. Clase had given up just 2 home runs in 74.1 innings during the regular season.

The series will head to Detroit for two games with the next game being Wednesday at 3:08 pm.