
Spoelstra: No need to penalize Ball any further
Erik Spoelstra supports no further penalties for LaMelo Ball after flagrant foul.
The Cleveland Guardians lost their series against the St. Louis Cardinals, marking their first consecutive losses of the year after a strong start. Despite winning the opening game, they dropped the next two, raising concerns about their bullpen performance.
After starting the season without losing their first four series, the Cleveland Guardians have now dropped back-to-back sets and have dropped consecutive games for the first time this calendar year.
The Guardians won their opening game against the St. Louis Cardinals, but found themselves on the wrong side of the next two, even though they had opportunities throughout the week.
Here are three takeaways from Clevelandâs latest series loss.
Across the board, Clevelandâs pitching has been so good to start the season, but its series loss to the Cardinals is showing that there might be some cracks in both the depth and efficiency of the group.
Over the Guardiansâ three-game set against St. Louis, Clevelandâs reliever core gave up nine runs, eight of those being earned.
Erik Sabrowski, who has been one of MLBâs most underrated pitchers in baseball to begin the season, gave up a costly two-run home run in the middle game of the series. Connor Brogdon had a rough three-run inning in the series finale.
Cade Smith has looked shaky at times to begin the year, and could get one out with a runner on second in the ninth, which led to the Cardinals tying the game. Tim Herrinâs wild pitch in extra innings is what ultimately ended the matchup in extra innings.
The Guardians have no reason to ring the alarm bells yet. They are in the middle of a 13-day, no-off-day stretch, and some regression was inevitable. Still, the bullpen was definitely a standout, and not in a good way, against the Cardinals.
Apr 14, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Cade Smith (36) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Juan Brito has only been in the big leagues for a few days, and he has already learned a rough lesson about how costly one error can be in the long run.
On Tuesday, the Guardians had a lead with two outs in the ninth inning, and Brito misplaued a ball at second base, allowing the tying run to reach, and eventually score. Cleveland went on to lose the game in extra innings.
As Vogt said a few years back, the best thing to do in moments like this is to learn the lesson and leave the event, and thatâs exactly what Brito needs to do here.
And, again, this loss wasnât solely on Brito; the bullpen had a few costly miscues, too, and the offense didnât come through in extra innings.
However, it is hard to look back on that plate and think the Guardians were one away from a win, only to end up taking a loss instead.
Ending on a positive note is only fair, considering there were some positives to point out during this series, one of which is the continued development of Angel Martinez as he puts together an early breakout season.
Martinez was 3-for-9 in the series and came with a couple of bit hits for the Guardians, too. Just a few pitches into Mondayâs game, the switch-hitter slugged his second home run of the season to give the Guardians an early lead. Then, on Tuesday, he came up with a two-run RBI double to extend Clevelandâs lead at the time.
Is this production sustainable? Time will tell, but Martinez still proved heâs one of the Guardiansâ hottest bats, despite the series loss.
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The Guardians lost their series due to poor performance in the final two games, despite having opportunities to win.
The Guardians have lost consecutive games for the first time this calendar year.
The series loss to the Cardinals has revealed potential cracks in both the depth and efficiency of the Guardians' bullpen.
The Guardians won the opening game against the St. Louis Cardinals before losing the next two games in the series.

Erik Spoelstra supports no further penalties for LaMelo Ball after flagrant foul.
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