Johnny Cueto's Masterpiece Silences Cleveland Bats

The Guardians tried to mount a threat in the ninth inning, but fell short in their comeback bid.

Johnny Cueto's resurgence this summer continues to be problematic for the Guardians.

Cueto made his ninth career start against Cleveland on Saturday night, putting his lifetime undefeated record on the line against the franchise and he didn't disappoint.

The Guardians managed just five hits against the 36-year old and they dropped Saturday's contest, 2-0.

Cueto moves to 5-0 over nine career starts against the Guardians. He was taken out of the game with two outs in the ninth inning because he threw 113 pitches.

"You don't want to find a way to be impressed during the game because you're trying to beat him," Terry Francona said postgame. "But that was a very impressive performance."

Shane Bieber held up his end of the bargain, allowing just one earned run over 6.1 innings. He scattered five hits, struck out four and walked three. Bieber also allowed an unearned run on a defensive miscommunication when Will Benson's throw to home plate in the seventh inning was mishandled by Luke Maile. It appeared the throw cut have been cut off, which may have inadvertently screened Maile's vision. 

Saturday night's festivities at Progressive Field were delayed by nearly three hours as the Guardians and White Sox waited out an abnormally long weather delay. But with a poor forecast looming for Sunday's series finale, the two clubs were willing to be a bit more patient than normal in order to get the second game of the series played on Saturday.

Plus, from an organizational standpoint, droves of fans flocked to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario two hours before the 6:10 p.m. scheduled first pitch because of a blanket giveaway. They were also on-hand for a Rock N' Blast postgame fireworks performance and I have to imagine an additional three hours of concessions lines was good for the bottom line.

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