Sixth-inning defense keeps game out of Guardians' hands in loss

TORONTO -- Guardians second baseman Juan Brito charged the ground ball off the bat of Daulton Varsho in the sixth inning on Saturday, with an opportunity to record at least one out, if not turn a potential inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

The chance got past Brito and trickled into the outfield, allowing Toronto to take a one-run lead.

That moment loomed large for the Guardians in a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Toronto scored three times in the sixth inning, capitalizing on some tough defensive moments by Cleveland to spark its victory.

“[Reliever Matt Festa] came in, and we should have been out of that with maybe one [run allowed],” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We had a tough inning defensively there.”

Festa entered after starter Joey Cantillo permitted back-to-back singles by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto to open the sixth. He struck out Eloy Jiménez for the first out, which brought Varsho to the plate.

Festa delivered a sweeper up in the strike zone, and Varsho chopped it to Brito. The second baseman charged it and tried to pick it on a short hop. It skipped past him and into right field, allowing Okamoto to advance to third as Guerrero scored to give the Blue Jays a one-run lead.

Brito was not charged with an error on the play, but the Guardians had a chance to record at least one out in that spot. Brito’s misplay was also compounded moments later. Festa bounced back by striking out Davis Schneider for the second out, but Andrés Giménez followed by dropping an RBI double that landed on the left-field foul line.

The double was out of reach of a sliding George Valera and bounced past him. It brought two runs in.

“There's not a whole lot of foul ground there, so it starts to get into your sights,” Vogt said. “It starts to slow you down. And when you're not used to playing out there, it can be tough.”

Cantillo held the Blue Jays to one run (an Okamoto solo homer) over five innings, after which his pitch count sat at 81. He regretted how the sixth inning and the end of his outing transpired, and was frustrated by the tough spot Festa came into.

“I’ve got to do a better job,” Cantillo said. “That's on me there to obviously finish that inning and get both those guys out. I just didn't execute good enough pitches there, and that's unfortunate. …. I feel for [Festa] there. He came in and did exactly what he needed to do.”

Brito has been working on his defense pregame with infield coach Rouglas Odor. He has had a few tough moments since his April 7 big league debut that have been costly for the Guardians. On April 14, Brito made an error at second on a ground ball with two outs in the ninth inning. The Guardians led by one run but went on to lose 6-5 in 10 innings.

“He's continuing to work,” Vogt said. “Rougy's got him out there early, and 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.”

The moment in the sixth was unfortunate given Brito went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored. The free pass loaded the bases in the ninth, as Cleveland attempted to rally from its three-run deficit, before it ultimately fell short.

Brito was promoted from Triple-A Columbus after infielder Gabriel Arias went on the injured list with a left hamstring strain. He has some runway here; the Guardians’ only other big league second base options are Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martínez.

Scheemann is a Swiss Army knife whom Cleveland likes to move around the diamond, and the club sees Martínez as more of an outfielder now who can help the infield in a pinch. Travis Bazzana (ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 16 overall prospect) is positioning himself for a big league callup this season. He’s hit .297 with a .956 OPS over 23 games with Columbus.

Right now, Brito is the Guardians’ second baseman, and they’re focused on working with him as he continues getting acclimated to the Majors.

“He's going to be playing out there again tomorrow,” Vogt said. “He's here to play second base for us. [He had] a couple good at-bats today. We just got to continue to help him develop defensively and help him to work.”