OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 03: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts after he scored from third base on a sacrifice fly from Josh Bell #55 against the Oakland Athletics in the top of the eighth inning at RingCentral Coliseum on April 03, 2023 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images/Thearon W. Henderson
OAKLAND, CA--- The Guardians and A's decided on a slugfest Monday night, will the 2 ballclubs swapping the lead all night, until the Guardians would finally prevail in the 10th by a final score of 12-11.
Where to start... the Guardians and Athletics swapped the lead multiple times, with the Guardians at one point being down by 4 runs. The Guardians also had multiple innings where they would put together 2 out rallies, with the first being the beginning of the game. Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez would both drive in a run each getting a 2-0 lead early. The A's would then tie and eventually take the lead in the 2nd inning with hits from Esteury Ruiz and Tony Kemp. The A's at this point had 3 runs, which matched up their weekend total in their series with the Angels. The A's were all over Guardians starter Zach Plesac, who's final line read 1 inning pitched, 7 hits and 6 runs given up, good thing for Plesac, there's a whole season of baseball left. Xzavion Curry would relive Plesac with 5 innings, giving up only 3 hits and 2 runs. Naylor would then come in clutch to kick off another big inning for the Guardians with a first pitch home run followed by a 2-run double from Myles Straw. The 6th inning would see another multiple run inning for Cleveland, with Steven Kwan securing his 7th RBI in the last 5 games. That would be followed by Amed Rosario with another 2 out RBI for the Guardians.
It is also believed that we witnessed history tonight, yesterday Tim Herrin would make his MLB debut for Cleveland, being the first pitcher since 1893 to strikeout the first 4 batters of his career, well Herrin Monday night would strike out his 5th career batter, believed to be an MLB record for most consecutive batters struck out to start a career. The runs continued from that point on for both teams, with the Guardians having another big inning in the 8th. It would start off with Amed Rosario hitting a SAC fly to tie the game at 8, followed by Steve Kwan hitting a triple on what should've been a routine single. Oakland right fielder Conner Capel overran the ball, allowing it to roll to the warning track. The inning would be capped off by Josh Bell driving in his first run in a Guardians uniform, Jose Ramirez via the SAC fly making the score 10-8 Guardians, completing the 4 run comeback.
Emmanuel Clase then came in the game, Clase would end up blowing the save opportunity by giving up a 2-run home run to Seth Brown in the bottom of the 9th. The heroics would be continued by Jose Ramirez with his 3rd straight hit that drove in the 11th Cleveland run of the game. Amed Rosario would score the winning run via a wild pitch from Oakland pitcher Trevor May.
Shane Bieber takes the hill for the Guardians Tuesday, same time, same place. As always, listen to the game on your flagship for Guardians baseball, WTAM 1100 AM, 106.9 FM, the free iHeartRadio app, or HERE