If you’ve seen a band with two bassists live, you’d understand why it’d be an odd sight to see three catchers in the starting lineup (Wong as DH, Gasper as 1B, and Narvaez actually doing the catching for Ranger Suarez.) But, at first, there appeared to be no LOW END (music pun!) for the offense against the Guardians, as Jarren Duran cranked a ball into the stands by the time I turned my television on and Mickey Gasper had also gotten on base with a single into the outfield.
It didn’t take too long, though, for Suarez to fall into some early trouble in the second and fourth innings, but he whiffed two to end the fourth before any damage can be done, upping his total to seven through four innings. Unfortunately, in the bottom of the fifth, Masataka Yoshida lost a ball in the sun that dropped in and scored Cleveland’s third run, and exactly one (1) pitch later Chase Delauter smacked Jose Ramirez in. Gone was the confidence of Suarez, evidently, along with the Red Sox’s short-lived lead, an issue that has plague them all season, but Suarez was still able to finish that inning – and his afternoon – strong with his tenth strikeout.
In the late going, namely, the 7th, the Guardians fell victim to a common Red Sox trope: letting failed ABS challenges come back to bite them. With the bases loaded, Tim Herrin threw a third strike to Wilyer Abreu that was a called ball four to walk a run in and tie the game. The Masataka Yoshida redemption arc then concluded with maybe his biggest hit of the year to score one, and IKF and Caleb Durbin each added insult to injury following the pitching change to Codi Heuer, and the lead was 9-4. A couple more innings of stagnant action, and the Red Sox brought Aroldis Chapman in to get his first work in since May 20 in a non-save situation to slam the door.
The Red Sox win the series but there’s still some work to do, as the next three series are all against divisional opponents.
Jarren Duran: The Guardians’ Tanner Bibee hasn’t gotten a win in his 13 appearances yet, and, thanks in part to Duran getting to him by firing that lead-off shot within 30 seconds of the first pitch, that continues here. After struggling in April, he finished May off with 9 home runs and an .871 OPS.
Ranger Suarez: It wasn’t the most beautiful outing he’ll ever have, as he gave up three runs and looked very shaken after that Yoshida bobble, but he finished extremely strong and avoided melting down like he did in his last start. 10 strikeouts now have him tied with Connelly Early for the lead on the team (57.)
Caleb Durbin: Any time you get your first career triple along with two RBIs, you can get a stud nod. He’s still got some work to do, but he’s really starting to turn a corner in the last week.
Connor Wong: With this double, his career OPS against Cleveland continues to drift well over 1.300.
The Guardians’ ABS challenging skills: The Red Sox have been an enemy of the ABS challenging system since its’ implementation, as they’re the worst in the league. But, today, it helped them. Wilyer Abreu taking that walk in the 7th had consequences, as that was indeed a strike but the Guardians had incorrectly challenged two calls prior and were left to deal with that call. That resulted in five more runs as the Red Sox broke it open.
That’s it. Everyone who started had hits. Even Greg Weissert didn’t allow a run today. Nothing could bring the vibes down after Red Sox nation initially biting their nails for six and a half innings.
Here’s that Yoshida hit.
And for measure, here’s Marcelo Mayer running a foul ball down and giving a great effort to give Jovani Moran a much-needed second out of a pivotal 6th inning. Moran would go on and get the relief decision win.
And thus concludes my first Major League Game Recap since September of 2023, and the month of May.
