Strong pitching effort wasted as Guardians fall to Cardinals in extra innings
Another day, another strong pitching performance by the Guardians — and another wasted opportunity because of a lackluster offense.
The Guardians struggled to get anything going and dropped Saturday night's game 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals in 10 innings.
In the top of the 10th, the Cardinals took the lead without needing a hit. Brendan Donovan was placed on second base as the free runner, stole third base and then scored on a passed ball by catcher David Fry, giving the Cardinals the lead.
Sam Hentges had to clean up a mess left by James Karinchak in the seventh. With the score tied 1-1, Karinchak walked the bases loaded on only 16 pitches. He left the mound to a chorus of boos from the home crowd.
Hentges pulled off the Houdini act, quickly retiring the side to keep the score deadlocked at 1-1.
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Tanner Bibee, potentially battling to keep his spot in the rotation, fired a gem of an outing, allowing just one run on two hits with nine strikeouts in six innings.
With the Guardians down 1-0 in the third inning, Jose Ramirez tied it with an RBI-single to right field to score Steven Kwan, who just beat the throw home with a nifty slide.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians lose to St. Louis Cardinals in 10 innings
