Guardians spark another huge inning, hang on for 8-6 win against Nationals

Updated: May. 07, 2025, 4:31 p.m.|Published: May. 07, 2025, 3:05 p.m.

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com

WASHINGTON — Through five innings against Washington starter Mike Soroka on Wednesday, the Guardians looked like a team struggling to find the energy to finish off a stretch of 22 games in 23 days that included two doubleheaders.

Soroka had retired 12 out of the first 15 Cleveland hitters he faced with six strikeouts and appeared to be locked in during his first start after a stint on the 15-day injured list.

But that’s when the spark plugs at the top of their lineup ignited a patented Guards Ball inning, flipping a three-run deficit and holding on for an 8-6 win at Nationals Park.

Soroka’s three-run advantage disappeared in a blink after back-to-back singles by Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann. The Nats righty hit José Ramírez with a pitch to load the bases and Carlos Santana cleared them with a double into the right field corner.

Ramírez steamed around third, scoring the tying run well ahead of Luis Garcia Jr.’s relay throw to the plate.

The Guardians, who scored six times in the seventh inning of a losing effort during the opening game of Tuesday’s twin bill, kept adding on as Gabriel Arias singled and Bo Naylor drew a walk from Nats reliever Jorge Lopez.

Angel Martínez ripped the first pitch he saw into center for a two-run single that chased Lopez from the game, all before the Nationals recorded an out in the inning.

Washington skipper Dave Martinez summoned lefty Andrew Chafin from the bullpen to face Nolan Jones. Jones laid down a sacrifice bunt that Chafin fielded while moving toward the first base line and extended his arms to tag Jones, who tumbled to the grass behind the bag.

Jones and Chafin exchanged words as the Guardians right fielder gathered himself and began walking back to the dugout. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt hurried to separate the two and get Jones under control before things escalated.

Vogt said he calmly reminded Jones that he had accomplished his job and it was time to get off the field.

“All we can control is ourselves, and I didn’t want anything to escalate in that situation,” Vogt said. “We had them on the ropes and I wanted to keep it that way.”

When play resumed, Chafin threw a slider in the dirt that got past Keibert Ruiz for a wild pitch, allowing Naylor to score from third and Martinez to move up a base.

Brayan Rocchio’s RBI ground out plated Martinez to cap an eight-run rally — Cleveland’s largest single scoring frame of the season, and the third time the Guards have scored five or more runs in an inning this year.

The last time Cleveland scored eight times in an inning was Sept. 17, 2023, against Texas. In all, the Guardians sent 13 batters to the plate with six hits, three walks, two wild pitches, a stolen base and a hit batter.

“When we smell blood, we go,” Vogt said. “Our guys really feed off each other. When we get on base, we make really good things happen, and so that’s all we try to do. We try to get on base and then keep the line moving.”

Santana posted back-to-back games with at least three RBI for the seventh time in his career. He extending his streak of reaching base safely to 11 games.

Arias finished with a career-high four hits, including a double. He has reached base safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is 9 for 15 across his last four games. Wednesday was his eighth multi-hit game of the season.

Arias said preparation has been the key to him finding success in an everyday role.

“It comes down to the mindset,” Arias said via Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “That allows you to have that preparation because that’s important when you play every day, just being able to have the same preparation. That’s what has helped me perform the way I have.”

The offensive outburst took Cleveland starter Logan Allen off the hook after Allen allowed three runs on seven hits with four walks in a season-low four innings.

Joey Cantillo stepped in for a scoreless inning after Allen walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth, and Tim Herrin combined with Hunter Gaddis to make sure there was no response from Washington in the sixth before turning things over to Matt Festa in the seventh and Kolby Allard in the eighth.

Allen allowed a run in the second on an RBI double by Jacob Young and two more in the third on a base hit by ex-Cleveland outfielder Alex Call and Garcia’s RBI sacrifice fly.

Call, released by the Guardians in August 2022, finished with two hits while ex-Cleveland infielder Amed Rosario added three, including a two-run double off Festa in the seventh that cut Cleveland’s lead to two.

But Emmanuel Clase picked up his eighth save with a scoreless ninth when he struck out Rosario and got James Wood on a line drive to left that Schneemann caught with a dive.

It was Clase’s fourth straight save conversion and third on the road trip.

Cleveland scored 26 runs in the series, marking the first time since Sept. 19-21, 2022 that they have scored at least eight runs in three consecutive games

The Guardians head home at 22-15, matching Detroit for the most wins in the American League and a game behind the Tigers, who face the Rockies in Colorado on Wednesday night.

Next:

Cleveland is off Thursday before opening a three-game weekend home series Friday against the Phillies at Progressive Field. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. Right-hander Gavin Williams will start for the Guardains. Philadelphia has not announced a starter. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WARF 1350 AM (Spanish) and the Guardians Radio Network.

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Agree with comments about Vogt pulling starters too early. LIvely was removed with 63 pitches and only 4 runners put on base over 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday
I don't think he's permitted to touch the 7th inning.

Cleveland Guardians Slugger Among MLB Leaders In Impressive Stat

Cleveland Guardians' Nolan Jones has one of the best average exit velocities in MLB.

Tommy Wild | May 6, 2025

The Cleveland Guardians knew they needed some more pop out of their outfield heading into the 2025 season. To address this, the organization traded for Nolan Jones just days before Opening Day.

Heading into Tuesday's doubleheader, Jones was hitting just .156/.278/.260 on the season, but the underlying statistics are more than encouraging for the slugger.

One of those motivating numbers is Jones' average exit velocity of 94.8 mph. The outfielder is absolutely crushing the ball, even though he hasn't seen a ton of in-game success yet.

Running From The OPS on X put in perspective just how good Jones' exit velocity is. Only eight baseball players have a higher exit velocity (based on qualified BBE).

The players ahead of Jones on this list include Shohei Ohtani (96.7 mph), O'Neil Cruz (96.1 mph), Aaron Judge (95.6 mph), Gunnar Henderson (95.4 mph), Pete Alonso (95.3 mph), Rafael Devers (95.3), Johnathan Aranda (95.1. mph), and Matt Olson (95.0 mph).







Just about all of these players are some of the best home run sluggers or overall hitters in the game right now.

With how hard Jones is hitting the ball and where his xBA is at, he has to start finding some luck at some point.

Perhaps that luck could be turning around, too.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1919845577824551068

In the series opener against the Washington Nationals, Jones hit a no-doubt-about-it 422-foot homer and followed that up with a double in his next at-bat.

If the Guardians can get Jones' bat going, they could have one of the best power-hitters in baseball by the time the summer months roll around.

[ Still have to contend with the strikeouts! He may be turning the corner. He seems to be making more contact and less k's. These next two series would be a nice time to show some progress. ]

civ ollilavad wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 1:21 pm Agree with comments about Vogt pulling starters too early. LIvely was removed with 63 pitches and only 4 runners put on base over 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday
I don't think he's permitted to touch the 7th inning.

That's bullshit after 63 pitches.

But if you are going to do that please don't talk about how your bullpen is thin, you need length, saving arms etc. Let the starting pitchers, especially in that situation, work to at least 100 pitches?!?!

If there's one thing I learned from last season and so far this season, it's not to second guess Vogt. A man with a plan.

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Guardians score late again, clobber Phillies with three home runs in 6-0 win

Updated: May. 09, 2025, 11:14 p.m.|Published: May. 09, 2025, 9:50 p.m.

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Kyle Manzardo broke the ice with a solo home run off Phillies starter Aaron Nola in the fourth inning Friday, and the Guardians continued their trend of adding on late runs, scoring a 6-0 win against Philadelphia at Progressive Field.

Angel Martínez and José Ramírez also went deep for Cleveland. The Guardians picked up their third win in their last four games against the Phillies and 10th in 15 all-time matchups at home.

It was the Guardians’ third consecutive win overall and fourth shutout of the season. They have won eight of their last 10 games and are 2 1/2 games behind Detroit in the American League Central Division.

The Guardians had scored at least eight runs in their previous three games; and they have scored 31 runs in the sixth inning or later in their last six contests.

Friday, they kept the pressure on Philly after Manzardo‘s go-ahead blast.

“They say hits are contagious,” Manzardo said. “It’s about trying to watch your teammates’ at-bats, pay attention to how they’re getting pitched and just taking a next-man-up mentality.”

Cleveland is 13-13 in 26 all-time games against the Phillies.

Gavin Williams navigated five scoreless innings, allowing four hits while striking out eight and walking four to pick up his third win. Nola was tagged with his sixth loss, despite not allowing a run until Manzardo drilled the 411-foot solo home run to center in the fourth.

Manzardo said he was trying to get some type of fastball in the strike zone from the veteran Philly righty.

“Just trying to pull him close, get him over the plate, looking for one of the hard pitches — the four seam sinker or the cutter — and then just making sure I get him on the plate," Manzardo said.

Martínez, batting .298 with seven RBI in his last 15 games, worked the count into his favor in the fifth with Gabriel Arias aboard after a leadoff walk. Nola left a changeup down and over the middle of the plate that Martínez launched over the wall in right for his first home run, giving him 11 RBI on the season.

Manager Stephen Vogt said Martinez is not missing when opportunities are presented to him at the plate.

“He’s taking what the pitcher is giving him,” Vogt said. “He gets a changeup that doesn‘t quite get down there and he just drops his hands and barrels it. But his base running and his defense, that’s been the difference for me.”

Ramírez stepped to the plate against Phillies reliever Joe Ross and crushed a 94 mph fastball just foul down the right field line with two out in the seventh.

Ross’ next pitch, a curveball low and over the middle, resulted in Ramírez’s sixth home run, giving him 18 RBI. He has four RBI in his last seven games.

Manzardo said it was not surprising at all to see Ramírez barrel up the next pitch after the long foul.

“He’s a fighter, man,” Manzardo said. “The more pitches he sees and in that at-bat, he’s just always getting better, getting better, getting better. I’m not shocked by it, but it’s always cool to see.”

Williams, who needed 28 pitches to get through the first inning and threw 18 more in the second, made Cleveland’s lead hold up, retiring the top of Philadelphia’s lineup in order in the bottom of the fifth. At one point the right-hander struck out seven of 10 batters faced between the first and fourth innings.

Vogt said Williams showed tremendous improvement from his previous start, where he allowed walked five and allowed a pair of runs in four innings against Toronto.

“Still a little bit of the efficiency missing, but I thought the quality of his offspeed tonight and throwing strikes with it, used his cutter a little bit more,” Vogt said. “The mix was really good.”

Nola, meanwhile, fanned a pair of Guardians hitters in the first inning and worked around a leadoff walk to Carlos Santana in the second, thanks to a strong throw from Nick Castellanos in right on a base hit by Manzardo.

Santana was out by plenty as he dove head-first into third, where Alec Bohm applied the tag. Nola worked around a walk to Steven Kwan in the third, and was in control until Manzardo‘s two-out blast to dead center in the fourth.

It was the ninth home run of the season for Manzardo, extending his team lead and giving him 22 RBI, including three in six May starts.

Nolan Jones helped Williams keep things scoreless with a pair of fine defensive plays as he hauled in a Bryson Stott drive to the wall in right in the third and threw out Castellanos trying to advance to second on a base hit near the line in the fourth.

It was Jones’ second outfield assist of the season and Cleveland’s major-league leading 14th.

Bo Naylor turned in what Vogt called the play of the game in the fifth when he threw out Trea Turner attempting to steal second base with Bryce Harper swinging and missing on a two-strike pitch from Williams.

“That was a huge play,” Vogt said. “That was Gavin’s last hitter. So, for him to be able to get a strike-out, throw-out, double play, now that’s one more out that the bullpen doesn’t have to cover.”

Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis worked scoreless relief innings and Matt Festa pitched allowed a hit, but did not allow a run, striking out a pair in two innings.

Next

The series continues Saturday with a 6:10 p.m. first pitch from Progressive Field. Right-hander Tanner Bibee (3-2, 4.26) will start for Cleveland, while Phillies lefty Ranger Suárez (0-0, 17.18 ERA) takes the mound. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM, WARF 1350 AM (Spanish) and the Guardians Radio Network.

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