Church robs Gonzales of what would have been walk-off homer, preserves Cards' 5-4 win over Pirates
Nathan Church robs Gonzales of a homer, Cardinals beat Pirates 5-4
The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in the series finale, salvaging the series after losing the first two games. Stephen Vogt commented on the team's performance during the game.
Stephen Vogt Reacts as Guardians Salvage Series Finale vs. Rays
The first two games of the Cleveland Guardiansâ series against the Tampa Bay Rays didnât go in the home teamâs favor. Even with multiple solid pitching performances from the Guardians, the bats just couldnât pick it up and give them some support.
The tides turned during Wednesdayâs series finale, kind of. Clevelandâs three runs were just enough to salvage the series finale against the Rays, as the Guardians won, 3-1.
Gavin Williams continues to put together one of the best starts of the year for any Major League pitcher with his outing on Wednesday. Clevelandâs starter threw a season-high 7.2 innings, gave up five hits, and allowed no earned runs.
Out of all the stats on the mound, the most impressive was the fact that Williams didnât issue any walks, especially when you consider the conditions were wet, foggy, and damp, and he had to pitch in.
âWe talk about it all the time; when Gavin throws strikes, that's what you get,â said Vogt after the game. âHe looked under control from the first inning, and even until we took him out, it was under control, pound in the zone, not a whole lot of hard hit balls.â
âThat was one of the better fastballs he's had, but he was just ahead the whole day. It seemed like every hitter. Get 0-1, got a lot of second pitch outs. A lot of weak contact. That was pretty special. Just the low pitch count, the attack in the zone was about as good as we've ever seen Gavin.â
After Wednesday, Williamsâ season ERA is down to 2.70.
The final score was 3-1 in favor of the Cleveland Guardians.
The Guardians lost the first two games of the series despite solid pitching performances.
Stephen Vogt is a player for the Guardians who reacted positively to the team's performance in the series finale.
Gavin Williams had a dominant start, contributing to the Guardians' win in the series finale.
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Apr 29, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams (32) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Guardians came up with a timely hit, late in the game, with runners in scoring position. Even going back to Clevelandâs trip north of the border last weekend, the team just couldnât come up with a clutch hit.
The Guardians had opportunities in the eighth and ninth innings in the first two games of the series, but failed to convert.
Chase DeLauter changed that narrative on Wednesday with a two-run RBI single in the fifth inning, putting Cleveland up 3-0 at the time. That insurance proved to be critical with Tampa coming up to score in the top of the seventh.
âAgain, offense has been a little scarce the last week, and just for us to come through in those big moments; Great at-bat by Chase, great at-bat by Manzo to get the runners in from third,â Vogt said.
Now, the Guardians must continue this trend as they hit the road.
Itâs no secret that Cade Smith has had a shaky start to the season, but he put up one of his better performances in the ninth inning on Wednesday. Clevelandâs closer pitched a clean inning with two strikeouts and ended Tampaâs hopes of a comeback in 12 pitches.
Vogt thought CadeâsâFastball was good. I thought the split had some life to it, and, Cadeâs been good. He's had some little hiccups here and there to start the year but, Cade's been looking better and better each time out.â
Again, hopefully, more clean innings like this from Cade are evidence in the right direction.
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