Guardians Tie Series with Yankees 1-1
I often tell my ballplayers ( I Need Hits Not Hero's) it's those little hits that win the close ones. Tito Francona knows this too. It shows in the way his team just keeps grinding it out.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to right in the first off former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. Cleveland knotted it up against 2022 All-Star Nestor Cortes when Andrés Giménez had an RBI single in the fourth and Amed Rosario homered into the Yankees bullpen in the fifth. And that's how it remained until the tenth.
Jose Ramirez doubled to left and went to third on a throwing error by Josh Donaldson , Oscar Gonzalez did some situational hitting and singled to right scoring Ramirez to take the 3-2 lead and Josh Naylor ended the scoring plating Ramirez with a double to deep center. Emanuel Clase pitched the final 2 ⅓ to grab the W . And low and behold it's a tie series headed back to Cleveland for game 3 tonight.
Phillies Take 2-1 Series Lead over the Braves
Rhys Hoskins seemed to take it personally when the Braves walked Kyle Schwarber intentionally to get to him. Hoskins stepped to the plate in the third inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Friday with a mission. Hoskins jumped on Braves righty Spencer Strider's first pitch for a three run home run. And the route was on. The Phillies scored six times in the inning including a two run shot by Bryce Harper. The Braves were hit in the mouth yesterday , we will see if they can bounce back today after the 9-1 drubbing.
Dodgers go down 2-1 and 2-1
You expect more from a 111 win team than the Dodgers put forth last night. A big fat donut for nine on trips to the plate with runners in scoring position last night. It wouldn’t cause concern but L.A. was 0-8 in game two RISP situations. This is a team that had a plus 334 run differential in 2022. Right now the Dodgers look to be gripping the bat a bit too tight.
The Padres got on the board with a two-out single from Jake Cronenworth in the first and a first-pitch, fourth-inning dinger from Trent Grisham in the fourth -- his third this postseason. The Dodgers lone run came in the fifth when Trayce Thompson singled to center followed by a double off the bat of Austin Barnes. Mookie Betts plated with a sac fly. Blake Snell took the Win going 5 ⅓ with 6 K’s , Josh Harder picked up his second save of the series.