After winning their last seven games and 10 of their last 11, the Cleveland Guardians’ impressive streak came to an end on Saturday night in Philadelphia. They fell to the Phillies 3-0, as Zack Wheeler and the home club’s bullpen dominated the offense from start to finish.
The Guardians are now 31-23 on the season, still firmly at the top of the AL Central division and playing excellent baseball. All good things, however, come to an end.
139-23 is still on the table.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/gpUOVhb4Ca
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 24, 2026
Slade Cecconi gave Cleveland a valiant effort, pitching five solid innings in which he allowed three runs on six hits and one walk. He fanned five and left his season ERA at 5.18.
The Phils couldn’t touch Cecconi in the first three innings, though. The first runs of the game came in the bottom of the fourth. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm hit consecutive one-out singles, and Brandon Marsh grounded out to advance both into scoring position. From there, they scored on Bryson Stott’s two-out, two-run single.
Cecconi let the first two hitters of the sixth inning, Harper and Bohm, reach base, and was removed in favor of Matt Festa at that point. The righty fanned Brandon Marsh, but allowed Harper to steal third, and then walked Stott to load the bases. He got the second out of the frame via the strikeout against J.T. Realmuto, but gave up another base on balls to Adolis Garcia, forcing in Philadelphia’s third run of the game.
Festa wasn’t at his best, but he didn’t allow any runs of his own, and neither did Shawn Armstrong and Peyton Pallette in their relief appearances.
It was a rough game for the Guardians’ offense, which fielded a brand-new lineup with Travis Bazzana as the leadoff hitter and Steven Kwan hitting eighth. The unit was limited to just three hits, though, all of them doubles, by Chase DeLauter, Rhys Hoskins, and Bazzana, as Wheeler tossed six scoreless and the bullpen did its job.
The two teams will play the series finale on Sunday afternoon, with Parker Messick facing Andrew Painter starting at 1:35 pm ET.
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