Another late bullpen meltdown costs Pirates DH sweep
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie All-Star Travis Bazzana hit a two-run homer to center field in the ninth inning for his first career walk-off hit and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday night to split in a doubleheader.
The Pirates won the first game 7-1.
Patrick Bailey led off the ninth with a single to right, Steven Kwan followed with a double down the left-field line. Bailey tried to score from first but was tagged out at home by Pittsburgh catcher Rafael Flores Jr. after the relay throw by third baseman Nick Gonzales.
Bazzana — the top overall pick in the 2024 amateur draft — then connected on a 1-0 changeup by Dennis Santana (2-5) and drove it 414 feet for his eighth homer of the season and give Cleveland its fourth walk-off win of the season.
Cade Smith (3-1), the Guardians’ seventh pitcher of the night, got the win after retiring the Pirates in order in the ninth. Kwan had three hits.
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 3-0 lead after four innings, which included an improbable RBI double by Esmerlyn Valdez in the third. With one out and a runner on second, Valdez hit a towering fly ball to shallow center. Outfielder Petey Halpin lost the ball in the lights and hazy conditions as Cleveland was still dealing with smoke from wildfires in Canada.
The ball landed in right center and was picked up by right fielder David Fry. Gonzales beat the throw home to make it 2-0. According to Statcast, the ball reached an apex of 204 feet and had a hang time of 7.4 seconds.
Mason Montgomery, Khristian Curtis and Yohan Ramirez combined to throw seven scoreless innings as Pittsburgh built a 3-0 lead. Curtis, making his major league debut, allowed just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings.
Brandon Eisert came on for Curtis to start the eighth and retired only one of four batters he faced, allowing singles to Kwan, Brayan Rocchio and DeLauter as Cleveland cut the lead to 3-1. Gregory Soto relieved Eisert and threw a wild pitch that allowed Rocchio to score before giving up a game-tying single to Kahlil Watson.
It was the Pirates’ 18th blown save in 37 opportunities.
In the first game, Valdez and Jacob Gonzalez hit two-run homers, and Jared Jones (2-1) struck out nine in five innings for Pittsburgh.
Gonzales added a solo shot in the sixth inning as the Pirates extended their winning streak to four games. At 51-47, it was the first time they were at least four games over .500 after the All-Star break since Sept. 25, 2018.
Bazzana had an RBI triple in the third inning to drive in Kwan for the lone run as the Guardians had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Pittsburgh’s 128 homers are fifth in the majors. Gonzalez put the Pirates on the board with a two-run drive to right field that went 428 feet off Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (10-5). Valdez extended Pittsburgh’s advantage to 4-1 in the sixth when he connected on a fastball and drove it over the wall in right-center.
Jones (2-1) allowed one run on three hits and walked one. After throwing six perfect innings in a no-decision against Atlanta on July 8, the right-hander retired the first eight Cleveland hitters before Kwan’s base hit to left. Dating back to Jones’ July 2 outing against Philadelphia, he became only the third Pirates’ pitcher since 1957 to retire at least 30 batters in a row. Harvey Haddix retired 38 straight during two outings in 1959 and Jim Bibby got out 32 straight across two games in 1981.
Williams gave up five runs on seven hits in six innings. It was the second time in the right-hander’s four-year career he has allowed three home runs in a game.