Guardians surrender late lead in 4-3 loss to Mariners

Canzone, a Northeast Ohio native and former Ohio State and Walsh Jesuit standout, scored the tying run on a wild pitch by Clase that skipped past Bo Naylor. After another intentional walk, this time to Cal Raleigh, Polanco lined the third pitch he saw up the middle for the game-winning hit.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said the walk to Mastrobouni hurt the most, while characterizing Clase’s wild pitch as “unfortunate.” But he credited Polanco with a nice piece of hitting for the game winner.

“We got into a tough situation,” Vogt said. “We had to put some people on to set up the double play. But I thought everything went well, or we made the adjustments. Just didn’t get the result.”

Cleveland was 30-0 this season when leading after eight innings and had not lost when it held a lead that late in a game in its last 124 straight chances dating back to September of 2023, including the postseason.

It marked the Guardians’ second walk-off defeat this year after a 6-5 loss to Minnesota on May 19.

Clase (4-1) took the loss, his first of the season, while suffering his third blown save. Jackson Kowar (1-0), who pitched a scoreless ninth for the Mariners, picked up his first win since September of 2023 when he was with Kansas City.

Vogt said despite falling behind early against Mariners starter George Kirby, he felt Cleveland’s approach at the plate was effective.

“Our attack plan was really good,” Vogt said. “He’s tough to square up, but we worked him, we got his pitch count up. We got some traffic. Would’ve liked to have scratched across a few more (runs), but I thought we had good at-bats.”

Cleveland took the lead in the sixth when Daniel Schneemann singled to open the inning and went to third on a Nolan Jones base hit with one out. After Jones stole second, Schneemann came home on a wild pitch by Mariners lefty Gabe Speier.

After forcing Gavin Williams to throw 30 pitches in the first inning Friday, Mariners hitters worked deep into counts against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee on Saturday, forcing the right-hander to throw 31 pitches and grabbing an early lead behind an RBI double by Raleigh and a sacrifice fly by Polanco.

Bibee entered the game having allowed opponents an .847 OPS in the first inning in his 13 previous starts, the highest of any inning for the right-hander this year. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez singled to open the frame before Raleigh connected on a drive off the right field wall for his 12th two-base hit and 54th RBI.

Bibee, making his second career appearance against the Mariners, had pitched brilliantly into the seventh inning in both of his previous two starts against the Yankees and Astros with little or nothing to show for it.

His only other career start against Seattle yielded six shutout innings and 12 strikeouts in an 8-0 win at Progressive Field nearly one year ago to the day.

Vogt admitted that Bibee “just did not look or feel like himself all night long,” but he worked to get through five innings, striking out three and walking three while limiting Seattle to just one hit over his final four frames.

“That’s pitching when you don’t have anything,” Vogt said. “That’s battling when you don’t have your best stuff. For him to get through five and keep us where we were, I thought it was an excellent job.”

The Mariners ran themselves out of a scoring opportunity in the fifth when Crawford singled and moved to second after Bibee hit Raleigh with a slider on his left foot. But with Polanco at the plate, Crawford was caught stealing as Bibee whirled and threw to Gabriel Arias. Crawford was tagged out in a rundown and Bibee worked out of the inning by getting Randy Arozarena to ground into a fielder’s choice at second base.

Vogt credited Bibee for having a great pickoff move, and associate manager Craig Albernaz for coordinating Cleveland’s run defense.

“(Albernaz) does an unbelievable job with our running game,” Vogt said. “He scouts the other team. He knows tendencies and seems to always find those spots to get us out of big innings.”

Cleveland cut the Seattle lead in half in the fourth thanks to an RBI double by Jones with two out. Carlos Santana and Schneemann singled off Kirby, and after a Naylor strikeout, Jones drove an 0-1 sinker into the left center field gap for his seventh two-base hit. Santana scored to give Jones 17 RBI.

After hitting a home run in Friday’s series opener, Jones recorded an RBI in back-to-back games for the first time since he drove in runs in four consecutive games from May 28 to June 1.

But the Guardians failed to add on after Gabriel Arias drew a walk to load the bases and Kirby whiffed Angel Martínez on three pitches to end the inning.

José Ramírez evened the score at 2-2 in the fifth with his 13th home run, a solo blast off Kirby that stayed inside the right field foul pole to give the six-time All-Star 34 RBI, tying Santana for the team lead.

The homer extended Ramírez’s career-high on-base streak to 39 straight games, the longest in the American League this season and second-longest in the majors behind Kyle Schwarber’s 41-game run. He has hit safely in 33 of his last 35 games dating back to May 6, and has reached in 16 straight games against the Mariners.

Schneemann and Jones each reached base three times including one walk apiece, while Ramírez added a single in the seventh for his 27th multi-hit game of the season.

Crawford reached base five times, including three base hits and two walks.

Next

The series concludes Sunday with a 4:10 p.m. first pitch from T-Mobile Park. Right-hander Luis Ortiz (3-7, 4.26) will start for Cleveland while the Mariners send righty Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.04) to the mound. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM and the Guardians Radio Network.