The Cleveland Guardians won one of their toughest games of the season so far, narrowly besting the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 at Citizens Bank Park to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Cleveland has now won ten of their last 11 games and is officially the hottest team in baseball. They took down a Phillies team that is in a fine run of form, too.
Stephen Vogt and his squad are now 31-22 on the season.
Cristopher Sanchez and Gavin Williams were locked in quite a pitching duel all night, trading zeroes for most of the game. The former gave the Phillies eight incredible innings in which he conceded no runs, four hits, and two walks, striking out six and wrapping up his night with a no-decision.
Williams was magnificent for the visitors, also contributing eight scoreless frames in arguably his best start of the year. He surrendered four hits and gave up no bases on balls, fanning 11 Phillies hitters. He got the win.
How about seven of them thangs?#GuardsBall | #GuardiWWWWWWWins pic.twitter.com/M2eDTpBzss
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 23, 2026
After eight scoreless frames, the Guardians needed a solo home run by pinch-hitter Kyle Manzardo to score the lone run of the game, the one that gave them the win in this low-scoring affair. It was the fifth long ball of the first baseman this year, and it came against Phillies closer Jhoan Duran.
Cade Smith locked up the save for the Guardians after resting on Thursday, taking care of the ninth inning with no hits, runs, or walks and one strikeout.
The Guardians’ offense had been red-hot coming into the game, but could only string together six hits against Sanchez and Duran. David Fry was the only batter with two hits, going 2-for-3, and Manzardo, Jose Ramirez, Brayan Rocchio, and Austin Hedges logged the remaining ones.
Cleveland is having a run for the ages. When the offense doesn’t show up, the starters and the bullpen are lights-out. When the pitchers have an off game, the bats show up in a huge way. Right now, they are far and away the best team in the AL Central.
NEXT: Guardians Rookie Makes Massive Jump In Prospect Rankings
