Phillies Game Today ended with one swing and a night full of missed chances. Kyle Manzardo, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning, homered off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran to give the Cleveland Guardians a 1-0 win Friday in Philadelphia.
The blast capped a game that belonged to the pitchers until the final inning. Gavin Williams struck out 11 and worked eight scoreless innings for Cleveland, and Cristopher Sanchez matched him with eight scoreless for Philadelphia. The Guardians won for the seventh straight time, improving to 7-3 on the run as 38,092 fans watched a game that lasted 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Manzardo said afterward that he knew the assignment was to be ready for velocity, especially against a closer throwing 100 mph, and to get his foot down in time after having no earlier at-bats to settle in. It was the kind of late swing that can change a series, and it gave Cleveland its first 1-0 victory on a pinch-hit home run in franchise history.
For the Guardians, it also brought back a rare piece of late-inning history. Manzardo became the first Cleveland player to break a tie in the ninth with a pinch-hit homer since Jason Giambi did it on Sept. 24, 2013, against the Chicago White Sox. Williams, meanwhile, logged the seventh double-digit strikeout game of his career and his third this season, freezing Kyle Schwarber on a 97.5 mph sinker for strikeout No. 10 before getting Trea Turner on a flailed check-swing with a sweeper.
Sanchez had his own milestone night, even in defeat. He needed 96 pitches to get through eight innings, lowered his ERA to 1.62 and stretched his scoreless run to 37 2/3 innings. That pushed him past Cliff Lee and into second place in franchise history for consecutive scoreless innings, behind only the club's record-holder.
The matchup never really gave either offense room to breathe. J.T. Realmuto singled off Williams with one out in the eighth, but Cleveland answered the pressure with defense and patience before Manzardo finished it. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt called it a beautiful game and said anyone who likes pitching would have loved what Sanchez and Williams did, inning for inning. On the final throw, Vogt said the whole ballpark knew the runner was going and praised the throw and catch-and-tag play that followed, though the visitors had already done enough with the bat to turn a deadlock into a win.
Williams said afterward that he felt like he had a little bit of everything, and the box score backed him up. He had mastered a pitch he did not even throw until last season, and on Friday it was part of the mix that carried Cleveland past one of the National League's steadier starters. Sanchez had just completed his first shutout of the season before extending his scoreless streak, but Manzardo's ninth-inning drive left Philadelphia with nothing to show for a night of almost perfect execution.
