The visiting Cleveland Guardians could use improved fielding Sunday afternoon to help their chances in the rubber match of the three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays took the middle game of the three-game series on Saturday 5-3 with some help from some shaky Guardians defense.
Guardians second baseman Juan Brito let Daulton Varsho’s grounder squirt past him for an RBI single in Toronto’s three-run sixth.
“We should have been out of that inning with maybe one run scoring,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We had a tough inning defensively. It happens.”
Brito has had other defensive lapses but Vogt said he will keep playing him.
“He’ll be out there again Sunday,” Vogt said. “He’s continuing to work. … and, you know, this turf maybe hops a little different, but we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to catch the ball, and we’re going to continue to work defensively. We need to get better. That’s clear, and we’re going to do that.”
Left fielder George Valera also had an adventurous day. He overran Myles Straw’s fifth-inning fly that dropped for a double down the left-field line. Valera’s sliding attempt came up short in the sixth on Andres Gimenez’s two-run, two-out double on the left-field line.
Right-hander Slade Cecconi (0-3, 6.20 ERA) is the scheduled starter Sunday for the Guardians. He has not faced the Blue Jays.
Toronto is slated to start Patrick Corbin (0-0, 3.68). He is 1-1 with a 4.44 ERA in five career starts against Cleveland. Right-hander Dylan Cease was originally named to start Sunday but he was moved to Monday to face the Boston Red Sox to give him an extra day after a 110-pitch outing on April 20.
Steven Kwan was out of the Guardians lineup for the second consecutive game on Saturday. He was given a scheduled day off on Friday to provide a break from the artificial turf at Rogers Centre and was used as a ninth-inning defensive replacement.
Kwan was in the lineup for Saturday but was a late scratch because of a stiff neck.
“This is independent of yesterday,” Vogt said. “We put him in the game Friday and he was fine.”
Kwan said he woke up with a stiff neck.
With Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman removed from the closer’s role, Louis Varland pitched a shaky ninth Saturday to pick up the save. He allowed a run, three hits and a walk before ending the game with two strikeouts.
“Louis has the mentality to do that,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He has great numbers. It’s not going to be perfect and it’s not going to be perfect for anyone, so I hope people have a little bit of sympathy for Hoffman. This is not easy. ”
Toronto put Nathan Lukes on the injured list with a strained left hamstring and promoted outfielder Yohendrick Pinango from Triple-A Buffalo.
Lukes suffered the injury running out a first-inning double on Friday and left the game immediately.
“He’s kind of week-to-week,” Schneider said. “It feels like anyone who’s playing good is not allowed to play anymore.”
Pinango was batting .288/.370/.488 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 22 games at Buffalo.
“He hits the ball hard,” Schneider said. “The way the hitting guys talk about it is that he has some bad intentions at the plate. He’s not just trying to touch it.”
–Field Level Media
