The Guardians ran into the same wall they’ve hit all season against bullpen games, and Tuesday night’s version came from Texas.
By the time the Rangers were done at Progressive Field, they had turned a last-minute pitching plan into a 6-3 win, with Chris Paddack doing most of the heavy lifting after signing a big-league contract just hours before first pitch. Paddack, who had already seen Cleveland once this year, delivered four steady innings out of the bullpen and helped keep the Guardians from ever fully cashing in on their chances.
Cleveland did grab a brief lead in the fifth and later clawed within one run, but Texas kept answering. The Rangers tied it in the sixth, broke it open in the seventh, and finished the job with two more in the ninth.
Paddack’s day was the kind Cleveland has struggled to solve. Stephen Vogt said the key to beating a bullpen game is to interrupt the flow of arms and force one pitcher to absorb damage. That didn’t happen here.
“He’s been great against us,” said Vogt. “The changeup and the cutter really got to out left-handed hitters. The cutter had a lot of movement going away from our righties, too.
“He tends to pitch well against us.”
Paddack’s track record against Cleveland backs that up. He owns a 2.93 ERA in his career against the Guardians, and Monday fit the pattern. He had also faced Cleveland on May 16, when he signed with the Reds three days earlier and worked five innings in a 7-4 Guardians win.
This time, Cleveland did not get enough from its chances. The Guardians went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base, another rough night in a spot where the offense needed one more hit.
They were trailing 1-0 in the fifth when Gabriel Arias jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent a 429-foot homer into the bleachers in left center to tie it at 1-1. It was his third homer of the season and his first since April 3 against the Cubs.
Austin Hedges followed with a line-drive single off the left field wall, and after Travis Bazzana’s groundout moved him to second, Chase DeLauter came through. In his second game back from the injured list, DeLauter turned an 89-mph cut fastball into a double past first that scored Hedges and gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead. The ball came off his bat at 110.7 mph.
Texas answered right away. Jake Burger tied the game 2-2 in the sixth with a two-out single off Parker Messick after Evan Carter opened the inning with a soft single to short right field and Josh Jung followed with a single to right.
Messick had entered the seventh with the score tied, but the inning got away from him. Cameron Cauley, making his first big-league hit count, opened the rally with a one-out triple into the right-field corner. Nicky Lopez followed with a single and Justin Foscue added a double, pushing Texas ahead 4-2 before Colin Holderman came in to get the final out.
Messick was charged with four runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five, didn’t issue a walk and threw 83 pitches, 62 of them strikes.
“If I throw the ball like I did tonight 10 more times, I think I’d get a much different result,” said Messick. “I kind of got bled to death with a bunch of singles.
“Props to them. They’re a good team.
They found holes and moved runners. But the way I felt tonight, I’d do that over and over and over again.”
The Rangers got their first run in the fourth when Burger’s grounder to third brought home Jung. Jung had started the inning with a double down the left-field line, moved to third on Ezequiel Duran’s grounder to second, and scored on the play after Arias made a strong throw to retire Burger.
Cleveland pulled back within 4-3 in the seventh when Brayan Rocchio scored on a wild pitch, but Texas slammed the door with two runs in the ninth.
Robby Ahlstrom picked up the win to move to 3-0, and Jacob Latz earned his 17th save.
The loss was another setback for a Guardians club that took two of three from Seattle over the weekend but has now dropped seven of its last 11. Texas, coming off a four-game sweep of Toronto, has won eight of its last 11.
Arias said the Rangers simply executed their approach better.
“A lot of teams use bullpen games,” said Arias through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “That’s their strategy.
“You have to give it to them. They pitched well.
We’ve got to make adjustments, and we couldn’t do it today. Texas won because they pitched better.”
The Guardians now turn to Tanner Bibee against Jacob deGrom on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m.
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