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05 May, 2025
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Guardians’ bullpen steps in after Tanner Bibee cramps up in 5-4 win against Blue Jays
@Source: cleveland.com
TORONTO — Gabriel Arias collected three hits and drove in a pair of runs with a base hit in the fourth, and Cleveland’s “big four” relievers held Toronto scoreless across the final four innings Sunday to back starter Tanner Bibee in a 5-4 win against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Bibee exited the game with cramping in both of his legs after coming out to warm up for the sixth inning. He signaled to the dugout after throwing a pitch and was seen sipping a sports drink on the field as trainers worked on the muscles in his right leg. Tim Herrin was summoned from the bullpen at a moment’s notice and tossed a scoreless inning, which included hitting a batter. Cade Smith retired Toronto in order in the seventh, and Hunter Gaddis worked out of a jam with two runners in scoring position in the eighth. Emmanuel Clase allowed a run in the ninth when Andrés Giménez reached on a fielding error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But Clase struck out George Springer with the tying run at third base for his seventh save. The victory gave Cleveland a road series win in Toronto for the first time since 2023 and improved the Guardians’ record to 15-1 games where they score at least four runs, the top mark in the majors. Steven Kwan, Kyle Manzardo and Angel Martínez added two hits apiece, while Daniel Schneemann drove in his sixth run in two games. Carlos Santana drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the ninth against Blue Jays lefty Brendon Little for Cleveland, which has won five of its last six and sits 1 1/2 games behind Detroit in the American League Central Division. The Guards grabbed a lead in the third when Arias reached on a base hit and went to third on a one-out single by Martínez. Kwan legged out a fielder’s choice grounder to second, staying out of the double play and allowing Arias to score from third. It was Kwan’s 16th RBI and first in his last 34 plate appearances. The Guardians upped their lead to 4-0 in the fourth when the first four batters of the inning reached base, including a Manzardo single, a Santana walk and Schneemann’s RBI double. Schneemann finished the series with four hits and six RBI after driving in all of Cleveland’s runs with a pair of home runs in Saturday’s comeback win. Arias followed with a two-run single off Francis to right field, but was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a double. Bibee earned his second win in his last three starts, going five innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. But when he cramped in the sixth, manager Stephen Vogt turned to his most reliable arms at the back end of the bullpen. Bibee has a history of dealing with cramping issues that dates back to his college career at Cal State Fullerton. He left a start after five innings last July against the Tigers with a similar issue. Cleveland’s defense also stepped up to help Bibee hold Toronto scoreless through three innings. With runners on the corners in the first, Anthony Santander hit a hard grounder to Manzardo at first. Manzardo stepped on the bag and threw to Arias with Vladimir Guerrero Jr running toward second. Arias spun and fired home to catcher Bo Naylor who tagged Bo Bichette for the second out of the inning. Bibee then struck out George Springer to escape the inning unscathed. In the third, Kwan robbed Bichette of extra bases and an RBI when he ran down a drive to the left center field gap and made a sensational catch before crashing into the wall. According to Statcast, Kwan had just a 15% catch probability on the play, covering 113 feet while the ball was in the air for 3.5 seconds. Bibee loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk to Guerrero and a 12-pitch walk to Santander, but got Springer to fly out to center to end the inning. Toronto trimmed Cleveland’s lead to a run, scoring three times against Bibee in the fourth. Alejandro Kirk reached on a José Ramírez fielding error and Bibee hit Alan Roden with a changeup before serving up an RBI double to Nathan Lukes. Andrés Giménez then delivered a two-run single for his first two RBI since April 7, a span of more than 85 plate appearances. Next: The Guardians head to Washington DC for a three-game series against the Nationals beginning Monday. Right-hander Luis Ortiz (2-3, 4.78) will start for Cleveland while the Nats counter with righty Jake Irvin (2-1, 4.01). First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM and the Guardians Radio Network.
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