PHILADELPHIA – Gavin Williams set the table beautifully, going pitch for pitch with Cristopher Sánchez, and Kyle Manzardo came up clutch off the bench with all of the offense Cleveland would need. Oh, and the Guardians made two stellar defensive plays.
It all added up to yet another victory for white-hot Cleveland.
Williams struck out 11 batters in eight scoreless innings in a pitchers’ duel with Sánchez, and Manzardo hit a pinch-hit home run with one out in the ninth inning off closer Jhoan Duran to lift the Guardians to a 1-0 victory over the Phillies on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Williams (7-3) allowed just four hits while coming within one strikeout of his career high. He reached double digits in K’s for the seventh time in his career and third this season, helping AL Central-leading Cleveland win its seventh straight and 10th in the last 11.
“You could see the look in his eye tonight,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Man, he wanted to go deep. And he did. Special.”
All five of the right-hander’s pitches -- four-seamer, sweeper, curveball, sinker and cutter -- were working well. But it was the sweeper, an offering Williams spent a mid-start bullpen session fine-tuning, that was the putaway pitch. Seven of his strikeouts came via the sweeper.
“Gavin’s got five very good pitches, and I thought he and [catcher Austin Hedges] used them beautifully,” Vogt said. “The sweeper was special tonight.”
And it needed to be.
The Guardians couldn’t even manage to get a runner to second base through eight innings against Sánchez, who extended his scoreless streak to 37 2/3 innings.
But thankfully for Cleveland, Sánchez was done after 96 pitches.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the world, and Gavin went pitch for pitch with that guy,” Hedges said. “For Gavin, at this place, against this lineup, to go pitch for pitch with him shows you that’s our horse.”
However, facing Duran (1-2) isn’t an easy task, either, as Philadelphia’s closer has converted all eight of his save opportunities this season.
Pinch-hitting for Rhys Hoskins, the lefty-hitting Manzardo drove the first pitch he saw, a 97 mph splitter, over the wall in left field for his fifth homer of the season. It was his second pinch-hit home run of his career, both of which have come this season.
Manzardo began preparing for his possible entry into the contest in the fourth inning, making trips back and forth to the batting cage. Vogt gave him the nod following Duran’s fourth warmup pitch that he would sub for the righty-batting Hoskins against Philadelphia’s right-hander. And Manzardo entered the batter’s box with an aggressive mindset.
“Anytime coming off the bench, period, but especially against a closer that’s throwing 100, just making sure I’m getting that foot down, just trying to go up there to get ready to hit,” he said.
It was the first tiebreaking, pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning or later for Cleveland since Jason Giambi did it on Sept. 24, 2013. It also was the first time in franchise history that Cleveland won a game 1-0 where the run came on a pinch-hit homer.
“Just proud to be with a group like this,” Manzardo said. “Just really, really grateful.”
Cade Smith finished off the victory with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 17th save in 19 chances.
“What a beautiful game,” Vogt said. “If you like pitching, you would have really liked tonight’s game.”
Vogt talked about the importance of forcing Sánchez to pitch up in the zone. Vogt also acknowledged that doing so would be easier said than done.
And it sure wasn’t.
The Guardians had just four singles against the Philadelphia southpaw. But they had Williams, and some great defensive plays.
Hoskins likely kept the game scoreless with a stellar defensive play to end the fifth inning, diving to snare Justin Crawford’s hard-hit grounder and flipping to Williams for the final out. It was no surprise to see Hoskins make the stop, considering how he talked about his comfort level of playing in Philadelphia against his former team. Hoskins began Friday with breakfast in one of his favorite neighborhood joints and even walked past his old house.
“Huge play to keep a run off the board,” Vogt said.
Cleveland also ended the seventh with another strong defensive play, with Hedges firing a perfect strike to second baseman Travis Bazzana to nab Brandon Marsh trying to steal second, completing a double play after Williams fanned Adolis García.
“It takes defense, pitching and timely hitting to win a game,” Vogt said. “And our guys did all that tonight.”