Guardians Lose 4-3 On Walk-off Home Run

The Guardians came out looking flat, and the end result echoed that.

The Guardians dropped game one of the traditional doubleheader Tuesday afternoon against the Detroit Tigers. 

With Hunter Gaddis on the mound, the Guardians found themselves playing from behind from the start. Gaddis would allow eight hits and three runs through five innings.

Gaddis has slid in as the two-starter for the club while they wait for the return of Triston McKenzie, but in the small sample size between the few starts last season and this, has struggled to find his footing outside of one real nice start in Oakland this month.

The Guardians would work a three-run inning in the fourth with a one-out single by José Ramírez, who advanced to second on a fielding error, and a double by Josh Bell to bring him in. 

Oscar Gonzalez, who hit behind Bell in the first game, came up and absolutely crushed a ball to left field to give the Guards the 3-1 edge. This was the first home run by Gonzalez of the year.

Long Gonz.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/HaBnf87x9I

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 18, 2023

Three singles and a double would get the Tigers back to even in the fifth, and Gaddis would go on to finish the inning before Terry Francona made the call to the bullpen. 

The Guardians would threaten to take back the lead in the seventh as they worked to manufacture a run. With runners on the corners and one out, Josh Naylor pinch-hit for Gabriel Arias but would ground into a double play to end the inning.

Seven Guardians' players would scrap together a combined eight hits, but Freeman, who was recalled from Triple-A, had the only multi-hit game.

The club would hold the Tigers off at even until the ninth. James Karinchak, who had two down, would allow the go ahead walk-off home run to Kerry Carpenter to end the game with a final score of 4-3.

The Guardians will look to snap their two-game skid during the second game of the doubleheader behind RHP Peyton Battenfield. 

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