Guardians hang on to beat Pirates, 5-4, in 10 innings despite Emmanuel Clase’s blown save
Updated: Apr. 20, 2025, 5:06 p.m.|Published: Apr. 20, 2025, 4:35 p.m.
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
PITTSBURGH — What are the Guardians going to do with closer Emmanuel Clase?
Clase turned a 4-1 lead into a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning Sunday against the Pirates. The Guardians still managed to pull out a 5-4 win on Kyle Manzardo’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning that scored automatic runner Jhonkensy Noel after Jose Ramirez had moved him to third with a groundout.
The victory completed a three-game sweep for the Guardians and gave them a 4-2 record on this trip through Baltimore and the Steel City.
After saving the first two games of the series, Clase walked Emmanuel Valdez to start the ninth. Tommy Pham followed with double, and Adam Frazier brought them home with a double past third to make it 4-3.
Clase retired Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a fly ball to left, but Frazier stole third and scored on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ single to tie the score at 4-4.
Clase finally ended the inning by getting Andrew McCutchen to ground into a double play.
Joey Cantillo pitched the 10th for his first save of the season. Clase backed into the victory.
Until the ninth, the game had gone the Guardians way. Manzardo’s two-run homer in the seventh gave the Guardians a 4-1 lead..
It was Manzardo’s team-high sixth homer, four of which have come against lefties. He finished with three RBI on Sunday.
Kwan struck earlier, giving the Guardians a 2-0 lead in the third with his second homer of the trip and fourth of the season. Last year when Kwan hit a career-high 14 homers, he didn’t hit No. 4 until June 8.
Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio, batting ninth, started the inning with a single to right. Kwan ambushed Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller’s first-pitch sinker and sent it into the right field bleachers.
Kwan has been experimenting with a torpedo bat on this trip as opposed to the hockey-puck handled bat he’s used since 2022. His first homer on the trip came on Tuesday against the Orioles at Camden Yards.
The Guardians missed a great chance to extend the lead in the sixth.
Carlos Santana drew a leadoff walk against Keller. Gabriel Arias doubled off the right field wall to send Santana to third. Santana hesitated for a moment on his way to second because he thought right fielder Bryan Reynolds was going to catch the ball, but he still made it to third.
Angel Martinez sent a grounder to first baseman Jared Triolo, who threw to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to catch Santana in a rundown as he tried to score on contact. Santana stayed in the rundown long enough to get Arias to third and Martinez to second.
Austin Hedges followed with another grounder to Triolo, who threw home to get Arias on a close play at the plate.
The inning ended when Rocchio sent a liner to center that Alexander Canario turned into the third out with a sprawling catch.
The Pirates made is 2-1 in the sixth on Andrew McCutchen’s double past third base. Reynolds, who had reached on a one-out single, scored from first. Cleveland starter Logan Allen raised the tension by walking Joey Bart to bring right-hander Paul Sewald into the game to face pinch-hitter Emmanuel Valdez.
Sewald’s first act of the inning was to make an errant pickoff attempt of McCutchen at second. McCutchen and Bart advanced a base. Sewald preserved the lead, however, by striking out Valdez.
Hunter Gaddis, Jakob Junis, Clase and Cantillo closed the game for Cleveland.
Allen allowed one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.
In his last three starts, Allen has allowed one earned run in 21 innings. He is 2-0 in his career against the Pirates, allowed one earned run in 10 2/3 innings.
Keller allowed two runs on five hits in five innings. He’s 0-3 in his career against Cleveland.
Next
The Guardians open a three-game series against the Yankees on Monday night at Progressive Field. RHP Gavin Williams (1-1, 4.58) will face the Yankees and right-hander Clarke Schmidt (0-0, 4.76) at 6:10 p.m. EDT.
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Tigers took 2 out of 3 in their series. It would be really nice if the Guardians can take 2 out of 3 at home.
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