The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Detroit Tigers on the road on Thursday by a final score of 4-3 in 10 innings. The win for the Guardians marks a sweep in this road series against the Tigers. The win is also the fifth straight for Cleveland and the sixth straight win over the Tigers.
For Cleveland (59-52), catcher Luke Maile grounded into a fielder’s choice to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Maile made another big contribution with an RBI single in the 4th inning, while outfielder Steven Kwan had a solo homerun in the 5th inning to give the Guardians a 3-0 lead. The Tigers led a comeback to send the game into extra innings, but rookie outfielder Oscar Gonzalez had an RBI single in the 10th inning to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead and win. Starting pitcher Zach Plesac went 6.1 innings, striking out seven batters and allowing four hits for one earned run. Relief pitcher Enyel De Los Santos got his third win of the season for going 0.2 inning and striking out a batter, while relief pitcher Bryan Shaw got his first save of the season for going 1.0 inning and striking out two batters in the 10th inning.
For Detroit (43-70), shortstop Javier Baez hit a solo homerun in the 6th inning to get the Tigers on the board and cut the lead to 3-1. In the 8th inning, the Tigers made a comeback to tie the game at 3-3, with an RBI double by second baseman Jonathan Schoop and a fielder’s choice groundout by pinch hitter Eric Haase. Starting pitcher Garrett Hill went 5.0 innings, striking out one batter and allowing four hits for one earned run. Closer Gregory Soto suffered his seventh loss of the season for going 1.0 inning and allowing one hit for one earned run, which was the game-winning run for Cleveland.
The Guardians will next be on the road to begin a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, August 12th, with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m.