*Photo from TheScore*
Things are looking up by the great lakes. Will Brennan homered, Josh Naylor drove in 3 runs, and the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Oakland Athletics with a 6-2 victory Sunday.
Cleveland picked up a sweep of the series and a win of the season series after having played in Oakland to start the season. Through the 7 games Cleveland and Oakland have played, the Guardians have outscored the A's 51-18. Cleveland is now 16-6, their best start to a season since 1999.
Starting pitcher Tanner Bibee said of the great start that "I think everything's just kind of coming together. I think it's really showing that last year was just a little bit of a fluke for a lot of people, especially in the lineups, on defense and in the bullpen."
Brennan gave the Guardians the early lead, making it 1-0 in the second inning with a solo home run to right field. One inning later in the 3rd, Andres Gimenez doubled the lead to 2-0 with a single to right field that brought home Brayan Rocchio. Brent Rooker provided an answer in the top of the 4th for the A's, belting a solo home run to left field.
Gabriel Arias gave the Guardians a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 4th with a single to center field that scored Brennan. In the 6th, Lawrence Butler made it a one run game for the A's with an RBI single that scored Ryan Noda. In the 7th inning, Naylor broke the game open, hitting a double with the bases loaded that scored all 3 runners to make it a 6-2 game.
It was Bibee who started for the Guardians, giving up a pair of runs while striking out 8 hitters in 5 2/3 innings. Tim Herrin and Nick Sandlin each followed with 2/3 of an inning before Cade Smith and Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless inning each to seal the win.
Ross Stripling started and lost his 5th straight start to open the year for the A's, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings. Mitch Spence pitched the next 1 1/3 innings and allowed two runs. TJ McFarland allowed a run and only got one out before Dany Jimenez pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Stripling said of his latest start that "I feel like I threw the ball well. I commanded a lot of pitches and had a good plan. These guys are good. They don’t punch out. They take advantage of a lot of mistakes. If I could get a pitch back, it would be the Arias pitch. I had him down and gave him a slider. He gets a hit right there and that was basically the game."
The Athletics get back in action with a Monday afternoon showdown against the New York Yankees with JP Sears lined up to start. Ben Lively will start for the Guardians as they tangle with the Boston Red Sox beginning Tuesday night.
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