Guardians Split Doubheader on Easter Sunday To Earn Series Win Against Cubs

After a successful road trip out west to start the season, the Cleveland Guardians returned home to open up their home schedule against the Chicago Cubs. The first half was electric at Progressive in front of a sold-out crowd as the Guardians opened their first home stand of the season with a 4-1 win to send the fans home happy and improve the Guardians’ record to 5-3.

Mother Nature would wash out Saturday’s game, making Sunday a traditional doubleheader on Easter Sunday in downtown Cleveland. The temperature dropped into the lower 40s along with strong wind gusts, making the conditions non-ideal for both the teams and the 19,000 fans that combined for both games.

The first game was a pitching duel between two young pitchers trying to make a name in the league. Chicago’s Edward Cabrera would throw for 5 and two-thirds innings and only surrender one hit to CJ Kayfus, who doubled to center field, ending Cabrera’s no-hit bid in the 6th inning. Cleveland’s Slade Cecconi would also impress in his second outing of the season while throwing for six shutout innings, allowing only one hit and recording six strikeouts. With both starting pitchers out of the game after the sixth inning, the game would come down to whose bullpen would break first. The answer, unfortunately for the fans at Progressive Field, would be the Guardians' bullpen. An RBI single to right field in the top of the 8th would be the game’s only run, leading to a 1-0 win for the Cubs and evening the series at a game a piece.

After just recording one hit in the first game, the Guardians needed to be more aggressive at the plate if they wanted to win the second game on Sunday and the overall series. Cleveland had yet to lose a series early on in this young season, so the Guardians had some work to do in order to prevent this.

Game two started similarly to the first game, with stagnant offense and fantastic pitching by both starters yet again. Cleveland’s Parker Messick was coming off an impressive first game over the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, throwing for six scoreless innings on the road. Parker wanted to stay in rhythm and build on the momentum he had collected in Los Angeles. Messick cruised through the first two innings until he hit a small road bump in the third when Chicago’s Matt Shaw homered to right, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead. One pitch can be crucial, but that didn’t seem to phase Parker Messick as he went on to throw for five innings, striking out six while allowing one earned run and just two hits. Dansby Swanson hit an insurance two-run home run in the top of the sixth to build a 3-0 lead for Chicago, making it a big uphill battle for Cleveland’s struggling offense.

Cubs starter Shota Imanaga threw for five shutout innings and recorded four strikeouts, but Cleveland would finally gain some momentum when a walk and back-to-back hits in the bottom of the sixth would result in the Guardians' first run of the game by CJ Kayfus, making the score 3-1. The Guardians wouldn’t stop there; they would continue with two more runs to tie the game at three after Chase DeLauter and Gabriel Arias picked up back-to-back RBIs for the home squad.

Cleveland’s Shaun Armstrong, usually known for his shutdown pitching out of the bullpen, would make one mistake by hanging a changeup right over the plate, and Chicago’s Ian Happ would homer to right, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead in the top of the 8th. The question for game two was whether Cleveland could remain strong and resilient, battling the storm thrown at them by a talented Cubs team. To answer that question, a young player in CJ Kayfus would definitely say yes after he launched a solo home run to right field, making the score 4-4 and tying the game yet again in the bottom of the 8th. Now the Guardians would turn to other heroes to step up and take the lead and hold off this pesky Cubs team. Gabriel Arias hit his second RBI of the game and gave Cleveland the lead at 5-4. Veteran and fan favorite Austin Hedges would knock in a much-needed insurance run for the Guardians, making it 6-4 after 8 innings.

Losing a tremendous talent in Emmanuel Clase last season to indefinite suspension really hurt the Cleveland bullpen, forcing setup man Cade Smith to step up into the closing role since last summer. Smith has had a slow start as closer this season, causing some concern among the Cleveland fan base. His struggles continued, cruising through the first two hitters before walking two and giving up an earned run, but the theme for the game had been resilience, and Cade Smith was able to battle through his struggles and earn a game-clinching strikeout to give the Guardians a hard-earned 6-5 win over the Cubs and a series win at home.

Cleveland has had the hardest schedule to start the season and so far has impressed with a 6-4 start through their first ten games. Next up, the Guardians will host the Kansas City Royals on Monday night for a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM, with Cleveland ace Tanner Bibee set to take the mound.