All-Star second baseman Andres Gimenez drove in the tiebreaking run in a two-run rally in the seventh inning as the host Cleveland Guardians nipped the pesky Detroit Tigers 6-5 on Friday.
Myles Straw, who reached base safely in his 12th consecutive game, walked to lead off the inning. He moved to third on Steven Kwan’s double before Detroit manager A.J. Hinch walked Jose Ramirez intentionally to load the bases.
Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly drove in the tying run, and Gimenez blooped a single in front of Detroit left fielder Robbie Grossman to score Kwan. Gimenez is now 28-for-73 (.384) this year with runners in scoring position.
Trevor Stephan earned his second save with a scoreless ninth. Set-up man Bryan Shaw (4-1) earned the victory with two shutout innings.
The Guardians wasted no time getting to Tigers starter Drew Hutchison. Kwan drew a leadoff walk in the first and moved to second on Amed Rosario’s single. Ramirez then drove in Kwan with a single.
Naylor drove in Rosario with a groundout to second for a 2-0 lead. After Gimenez struck out, Owen Miller’s booming triple off the wall in center scored Ramirez for a 3-0 advantage.
However, Cleveland starter Zach Plesac gave it all back — and more.
Riley Greene drove in the Tigers’ first run with a two-out solo homer off Plesac in the third. It was his second home run of the season.
Plesac unraveled in the fourth, but Cleveland’s shoddy defense didn’t help matters. Javier Baez reached on an error by Ramirez and scored on Harold Castro’s double. Former Guardians farmhand Willi Castro followed with a run-scoring single to tie the score at 3-3.
Jonathan Schoop hit a bouncer back to Plesac, who turned and threw to Rosario to start a double play, but he wasn’t covering second, and everybody was safe. Grossman then singled to load the bases.
Greene followed with a two-run double for a 5-3 advantage.
The Guardians inched closer to Detroit in the bottom of the fourth when Gimenez singled, moved to second on a walk to Miller and scored on Austin Hedges’ base hit to make it 5-4.
Plesac pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, five runs (two earned) and no walks. He struck out three.
Hutchison battled through five innings and allowed six hits, four runs and two walks. He also fanned three.
In two-thirds of an inning, reliever Michael Fulmer (2-4) allowed two hits, two runs and two walks to take the loss.
–Field Level Media
