Red Sox vs Guardians Recap: Late Push Falls Short

The Boston Red Sox came into Cleveland's house needing to bounce back. They'd lost two straight games and sat at 23-33 for the season. The Guardians were rolling with a 34-25 record and won their last two games. But Boston's starter Brayan Bello was ready to pitch tough tonight. The problem came before he even threw his first pitch. Reliever Tyler Samaniego took the mound instead—and Cleveland jumped all over him immediately. Rhys Hoskins smacked a single to left field. Jose Ramirez raced home. Angel Martinez followed with a sharp single to center, but Ceddanne Rafaela's fielding error let two more runners score. Patrick Bailey added a sacrifice fly to right. Just like that: Cleveland led 4-0 after one inning. Boston's pitching plan fell apart in seconds.

Boston came back hard in the fifth inning. Slade Cecconi was now pitching for Cleveland, and the Red Sox started connecting with his pitches. Marcelo Mayer singled to center, bringing Mickey Gasper home. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was already on third base. The Red Sox weren't done yet. Caleb Durbin stepped up and doubled hard to right field. Kiner-Falefa scored easily. Now Jarren Duran came to the plate with Mayer on third. He lifted a sacrifice fly to center field. Mayer tagged up and scored. In just one inning, Boston had cut the lead to 4-3. Brayan Bello was pitching beautifully on the mound, letting Cleveland get no more runs. This game was far from over.

Cleveland protected their one-run lead through the rest of the game. Colin Holderman came out of the bullpen and shut down Boston's bats. Tim Herrin, Shawn Armstrong, and Hunter Gaddis all pitched perfect innings, keeping the Red Sox from scoring again. Brayan Bello continued to pitch lights-out for Boston, keeping Cleveland off the board the rest of the way. The game stayed tight at 4-3 heading into the final inning. Cade Smith came in as closer and fired strikes. He struck out three batters with incredible stuff. The final strike came down, and Cleveland had won it 4-3. The Guardians improved to 35-25 with a huge home victory. Boston dropped to 23-34 and fell further back. A tough loss for Red Sox fans, but their pitching showed serious promise.