The Mets walked into Cleveland as the last-place club in the National League East, a team that had already shipped out nine players before Monday’s trade deadline. They walked out of Progressive Field with a sweep.
On Thursday, New York finished off the Guardians with a 13-6 win, a result that looked nothing like a matchup between a club chasing the postseason and one stuck in the basement. The Mets hammered Cleveland with power all series, out-homering the Guardians 9-1 in the three games, and Thursday was the loudest of the three.
For Cleveland, the night was another rough turn in a stretch that has gone sideways fast. The Guardians have now lost 11 of their last 14 and dropped to 57-59, two games under .500 for the first time since Aug.
25, 2025. They head to Chicago this weekend for three games against the AL Central-leading White Sox.
There were a few early signs that the Guardians might finally control a game. They grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning, though it took some work.
Chase DeLauter and Jose Ramirez, back in the lineup for the first time since Aug. 2 because of soreness in his left hand, both drew one-out walks against Mets starter Nolan McLean. Nathaniel Lowe then singled to left to load the bases, and Angel Martinez followed with a single through the middle to bring home two runs.
But Cleveland couldn’t push further. McLean struck out Brayan Rocchio, who came in mired in a 5 for 44 slump, then Petey Halpin dropped in a bloop single to load the bases again before Patrick Bailey flied out to right.
That missed chance mattered almost immediately. Left-hander Foster Griffin, making his Cleveland debut, struck out the side in the first but got hit hard in the second, when the Mets flipped the game with a three-run burst. Marcus Semien homered with one out, Eric Wagaman singled, and Luis Torrens launched a homer deep into the right-field seats for his second of the series.
New York kept pressing in the third. Bo Bichette drew a walk to open the inning, Luis Robert Jr. forced him at second, and rookie Carson Benge then ripped a triple off the center-field wall to score Robert. Semien followed with a sacrifice fly after Francisco Alvarez walked, and just like that the Mets were up 5-2.
Griffin lasted four innings, striking out six, walking two and allowing five runs on seven hits. He threw 88 pitches, 54 of them strikes, while working with seven pitches and calling his own pitches on the Pitchcom device so he wouldn’t be penalized by the pitch clock.
The bullpen didn’t slow New York down. Matt Festa opened the fifth, walked Alvarez, allowed a double to Semien and then gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Jared Young that pushed the Mets ahead 6-2.
Cleveland answered in the fifth with one of its few big swings of the night. Lowe, one of the club’s deadline additions, sent a three-run homer out to make it 6-5. It was his first homer since the Guardians acquired him from the Reds on Monday, and it gave the home team a brief jolt.
The comeback never fully took hold. McLean, who was charged with the early damage but settled in afterward, held Cleveland scoreless until Lowe’s blast and finished at 8-7 with a 3.51 ERA after allowing five runs.
Then came the shot that shut it down. In the seventh, Francisco Lindor - Cleveland’s former favorite son - launched a three-run homer off Craig Yoho to make it 9-5. Before that swing, Lindor had gone 1 for 14 with eight strikeouts in the series.
The Mets piled on in the eighth with four more runs to stretch the lead to 13-5. Slade Cecconi, making his second relief appearance since losing his rotation spot to Griffin, allowed four runs on three hits and two walks without recording an out.
The only thing left was for Austin Hedges to take the mound. The catcher entered and struck out Robert on three pitches to end the inning, then retired the Mets in order in the ninth. Hedges needed just seven pitches to finish his 1 1/3 innings.
The Guardians now turn to Friday night’s opener in Chicago. Parker Messick, 8-6 with a 2.67 ERA, gets the start against White Sox left-hander Noah Schultz, 3-8 with a 5.82 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:40 p.m. and the game will be carried on Guardians.TV, WTAM/1100, WMMS 100.7 FM and the Guardians Radio Network.
In Other News...
Guardians Offensive Slump Sparks Bigger Stephen Vogt Debate
The Guardians have tried to shake loose a sluggish offense with a flurry of recent moves, bringing in Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe while also promoting top prospect Angel Genao. Even with those changes, the lineup has still not found much traction, which has kept the focus squarely on how Cleveland is trying to balance immediate production with the long view of player development.
That tension has also fed a broader discussion around Stephen Vogt and the way the club has been deploying its hitters, with Jay Crawford of The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show questioning whether the constant shuffling is helping or hurting the groups growth. For a team that needs answers at the plate, the challenge now is figuring out how to keep chasing wins without making the offensive picture even harder to sort out. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Trade Deadline Ranking Says Plenty About Clevelands Post-Lindor Plan
A review of Clevelands recent trade-deadline work says a lot about how the franchise has tried to build since the Francisco Lindor era ended, with the front office cycling through moves that have steadily reshaped the roster year by year. The story looks back across the deadlines from 2021 through 2024, weighing how each deal affected the teams depth, balance and on-field performance as the Guardians kept trying to stay competitive without sacrificing the long view.
What stands out is how much this stretch of deadlines has become part of Clevelands identity under its current baseball operations group. Some moves paid off more cleanly than others, and the ranking puts a few familiar deadlines in the middle of the pack while making clear that the most recent work is being judged against a much longer track record. The larger question now is whether that approach can keep producing enough impact to match the standard Cleveland has set for itself. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Crossed A Line At The Trade Deadline
The Guardians went into the 2026 trade deadline looking to patch obvious holes, and they did not sit quietly. Cleveland added left-hander Foster Griffin from Washington to bolster the pitching staff, then followed with offensive help in Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe as it tried to give a playoff push some real substance. It was the kind of deadline haul that signals urgency, a front office trying to support a club that believes it can still make noise in October.
The price, though, is the part that will linger. Cleveland surrendered prospect capital for players on expiring deals, a move that can look bold in the moment and expensive later if the postseason run does not follow. For a team that has spent years balancing present-day contention with future depth, this was a clear bet that the window is open right now, even if it means living with the consequences after the deadline dust settles. [Read more 🡒]