CLEVELAND — One day after celebrating a pair of dramatic walk-off victories, the Guardians came crashing back to earth Saturday night.
Detroit left fielder Riley Greene homered twice, collected four hits and drove in four runs, while Framber Valdez dominated Cleveland's lineup over seven scoreless innings as the Tigers defeated the Guardians 6-0 at Progressive Field.
Ironically, one of Cleveland's better pitching performances of the season still resulted in a loss.
Rookie left-hander Parker Messick was electric at times, striking out 12 Tigers over six innings. But two mistakes to Greene accounted for much of the damage. Greene opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first inning before adding another long ball to begin the sixth. He wasn't finished, driving in another run with a double during Detroit's three-run seventh inning to finish 4-for-5 with four RBIs.
Messick allowed three runs on seven hits while walking two, and despite the loss, his 12-strikeout performance kept Cleveland within striking distance for much of the evening. The problem was the Guardians never generated any offense.
Valdez scattered just three hits across seven innings, walking one and striking out three. Cleveland advanced only one runner as far as third base and finished the night 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. Steven Kwan, José Ramírez and the top of the Guardians' order combined to go 0-for-10, while Angel Martínez, David Fry and Angel Genao accounted for the club's only three hits.
Detroit finally put the game away in the seventh. Greene's RBI double started the rally before Dillon Dingler lifted a sacrifice fly and Ben Malgeri added an RBI single to stretch the lead to 6-0, ending any hopes of another late Cleveland comeback.
The loss dropped the Guardians to 72-71, though they still hold a 2-1 advantage in the four-game series after Friday's doubleheader sweep.
What's Next: The Guardians will try to secure the series victory Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field as Gavin Williams is scheduled to take the mound in the four-game finale against Detroit.
