The Cleveland Guardians came into Monday’s series opener vs. the Texas Rangers having won two straight and three of the last four. They couldn’t keep up the momentum going, though, losing 6-3 at Progressive Field.
Cleveland is now 44-41 on the season and fell back to second place in the AL Central after the Chicago White Sox’s win against the Baltimore Orioles. The Guardians are one game behind.
We'll get 'em tomorrow.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/w4LZn41ElS
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 30, 2026
Left-hander Parker Messick had a phenomenal start to his outing on Monday, but ended up allowing four runs in 6.2 innings to take the loss. He struck out five, and even though he didn’t walk anyone, he did surrender eight hits.
Tyler Alexander, Chris Paddack, and Messick were all locked in an exciting pitching duel for the first three innings.
Alexander opened the game for Texas with a scoreless first, then Paddack took the ball in long relief. Messick, however, blinked first in the fourth inning when he surrendered a leadoff double to Josh Jung and then two straight groundouts that produced the Rangers’ first run of the night.
The Guardians flipped the score in the bottom of the fifth. Gabriel Arias hit an absolute bomb to center field to tie the game: it was his third homer of the year. Then, Chase DeLauter hit a 110.7-mph double that drove in Austin Hedges with the second run.
Messick couldn’t hold the lead, though. He conceded an RBI single to Jake Burger in the sixth and two additional runs in the seventh before being pulled out by manager Stephen Vogt with 83 pitches. Cleveland was down 4-2 at that point.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Brayan Rocchio singled and stole second base. DeLauter’s knock sent the shortstop to third base, from where he scored on a wild pitch.
Colin Holderman had a fantastic relief appearance, tossing 1.1 scoreless frames with no walks or hits and three strikeouts. Erik Sabrowski ran into some trouble in the ninth and allowed a two-run double to Justin Foscue that made things 6-3 Texas. Steven Kwan, who threw out a runner at home in the previous play, mishandled the ball and helped runners advance.
Cleveland couldn’t score again and went home with a bit of a deflating loss. At least the offense produced 10 hits, with Rocchio and DeLauter racking up two apiece. Going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position won’t win you many games, though.
The two teams will do it again on Tuesday, with Jacob deGrom and Tanner Bibee primed to offer an exciting pitching duel at Progressive Field.
NEXT: Insider Reveals What Guardians Should Do At Trade Deadline
