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.
