by Parker Messick and the Cleveland Guardians uncharacteristically gave up eight runs on 11 hits as the New York Yankees completed the series sweep on Wednesday by a final score of 8-4.
This marks the first time that Cleveland has been swept all season long.
Moving to 37-33, a dreadful 1-6 stretch, in which the Guardians have been outscored 33-20, Cleveland is now in jeopardy of dropping the American League Central Division lead to the Chicago White Sox.
In the bottom of the first, the young and fiery Angel Martinez got the better of veteran left-hander Carlos Rodon. Martinez opened the scoring for the day and put Cleveland up by one with a 406-foot solo shot.
The second inning was where the trouble began for Cleveland.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., perhaps motivated by the comments made last week by legendary Guardians radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton at his expense, was absolutely torrid this week for the Yankees. The Bahamian gave New York a 2-1 lead on an RBI triple, bringing home Trent Grisham and Jose Caballero, the latter of whom reached on an error.
Two pitches after the RBI knock, another error on a groundball from Anthony Volpe brought home Chisholm Jr, bringing the lead to 3-1.
Similarly to the other two contests for the Guardians this week, they fought their way back into the game.
Austin Hedges made a rare play at the plate, this time with his bat instead of the glove. His RBI double moved Travis Bazzana across home, and Stuart Fairchild to third, after the two drew walks.
Fairchild was brought home by a sacrifice fly out to right field from shortstop Brayan Rocchio, and the game was tied at three apiece after four innings.
However, the sixth inning was a nightmare for Cleveland and the young Messick, who exited Wednesday’s contest with the worst outing of his newly minted career.
Messick gave up a one-out triple to Grisham before he also gave up the lead on a sac fly from Caballero. After that, Chisholm Jr. drew a walk, and that was enough for Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt to pull Messick.
With reliever Matt Festa coming out of the bullpen for the Guardians, the Yankees put on three straight baserunners. A Volpe double, an Ali Sanchez walk and a Paul Goldschmidt single buried Cleveland underneath a three-run deficit.
The top of the seventh was just as cruel for Cleveland. Both Caballero and Chisholm Jr. picked up additional RBIs and put New York up 8-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Hedges earned himself a multiple-RBI afternoon with his second double of the game, bringing home Fairchild. Ultimately, it was too little too late, and the Yankees completed the three-game sweep with a lineout from Martinez.
For Cleveland, this will go down as an ugly series, and hopefully one that can serve as fuel for improvement.
The hitting struggles, especially with runners in scoring position, have been an unfortunate theme all season long. What was most surprising was Cleveland’s struggle with defensive errors, which produced multiple runs for the Yankees, and it will be something to keep an eye out for in this weekend’s series with division-rival Detroit.
The Tigers will come into Progressive Field for a three-game stint starting at 7:10 p.m. on Friday.
Tanner Bibee, fresh off his first winning decision of 2026, will get the nod for the Guardians. In last Saturday’s outing against the Texas Rangers, Bibee allowed just three hits in eight innings of shutout baseball.
