CLEVELAND, Ohio — Regardless of where or when he pitches, Emmanuel Clase’s job is to get outs, and the Guardians All-Star closer did exactly that Saturday, albeit in a position to which he might be unaccustomed.
Clase, pitching in a setup role for the first time since 2021 and making his first appearance since blowing a save in Pittsburgh on Sunday, struck out a pair of batters in a scoreless eighth inning before turning things over to Cade Smith.
Smith allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach base, but wiggled out of a jam with Boston runners on the corners, striking out shortstop Trevor Story for his third consecutive save as Cleveland emerged with a 5-4 win against the Red Sox in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Progressive Field.
Steven Kwan’s RBI bloop single into left field broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the sixth and Cleveland’s bullpen carried the Guardians the rest of the way.
Cleveland moved to 15-10 overall and 8-2 at home, snapping an eight-game losing skid in doubleheader games. The Guardians were 0-8 in four doubleheaders last season and had been 1-15 in doubleheader games since the start of 2023.
Manager Stephen Vogt told reporters afterward that he spoke to Clase ahead of the game and let him know that after not pitching for five days, he would look for lower leverage situations to work Clase back into the game.
So Clase entered in the eighth inning, earning his first “hold” since getting six in 2021 when he struck out Kristan Campbell and Triston Casas before getting Blake Sabol on a grounder to first. Vogt said Clase was open to the idea when he approached him before the game.
“That’s the teammate he is,” Vogt said. “And he’ll be right back in that closer role.”
Clase said it was good to have a plan in place before the game.
“It was a good way to get back into competition,” Clase said via interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Not just get into the high-leverage situation. So just wanting to get the sensation going, that’s what we wanted to happen.”
Kwan’s single, his second hit of the game, deflected off the end of Story’s glove and allowed rookie Will Wilson to score from third. Wilson pinch hit for Daniel Schneemann to open the sixth and was hit by a pitch from Red Sox lefty Brennan Bernardino. He moved to third after Angel Martínez’s infield single and a sacrifice bunt by Austin Hedges.
Wilson made a perfect read by not getting stuck going back to the bag on Kwan’s looping liner that was just out of Story’s reach. He broke for home and scored easily as the ball hit the grass in left.
Hedges said the play shows that the game does not move too fast for Wilson, even in just his second big league game.
“The guy’s got high baseball IQ,” Hedges said. “You can already tell that he feels comfortable here in the big leagues and he is helping us win ball games.”
Kwan extended his hit streak to eight games with a leadoff double. He has hit safely in 16 of his 19 career games against the Red Sox. Kwan entered the game hitting .364 with 3 home runs, 11 RBI and a .970 OPS in his previous 13 contests.
Cleveland’s “big four” relievers Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Clase and Smith backed starter Ben Lively’s five innings with four scoreless frames in the victory.
Herrin earned his third win and Smith his third save, while Bernadino suffered his first loss and starter Tanner Houck took a no decision.
Lively and Houck battled through five innings apiece, each allowing four earned runs. Lively appeared to be in position to escape the first inning without allowing a run to score, but José Ramírez was unable to turn a double play on a grounder by Story, who legged out the throw at first base.
That set up Wilyer Abreu’s three-run home run off Lively, his fifth of the season and second in eight career games against Cleveland to give Boston a 3-0 lead.
Lively said he knew he had to dig deep, even when he fell behind against hitters and did not get the benefit of a call on a handful of close pitches.
“You see a couple missed calls and one bad hit and you’ve just got to get aggressive,” Lively said. “You got to throw competitive pitches no matter what, and who cares if it’s missed calls or whatever. You just got to keep competing and keep going.”
With the Guardians facing a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, Vogt said Lively being able to get through five innings was an important boost for the bullpen.
“He was gritty, he kept us in the game, made pitches when he had to,” Vogt said. “That’s been one bad pitch or two bad pitches, and other than that, he was outstanding.”
The Guardians responded to Boston’s big inning with four runs to take the lead in the bottom of the first. Kwan and Nolan Jones opened with back-to-back doubles before Ramírez singled to right for his 14th RBI. Ramírez entered the game batting .345 in 30 games against Boston with 10 doubles, 10 home runs, 30 RBI and a 1.075 OPS since the start of 2019.
Carlos Santana plated Jones with an RBI sacrifice fly to center, and Gabriel Arias drove in a run with a line drive single to left. Arias is hitting .280 with nine RBI in his last 15 games. Santana’s sac fly was Cleveland’s major league leading 16th.
Vogt said Cleveland hitters were able to take advantage of Houck’s splitter, which was up in the strike zone a bit.
“We were able to jump on a couple sweepers as well,” Vogt said. “Our answer (in the first), we talk about it, it’s our identity. When we get punched, we want to punch right back. And they did.”
Rafael Devers tied the score with a solo home run off Lively in the third. It was Devers’ third home run, giving him 15 RBI. He entered the day batting .344 in 21 games at Progressive Field. It was his eighth home run in the park, giving him 16 RBI.
Next: Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader is set for a 6:10 p.m. first pitch between the Guardians and Red Sox at Progressive Field. Left-hander Doug Nikhazy will make his major league debut for Cleveland while righty Walker Buehler (3-1, 4.23) starts for Boston. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM, WARF 1350 AM (Spanish) and the Guardians Radio Network.
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