The Cleveland Guardians’ visit to American Family Field has turned out to be as difficult as expected. The team dropped the second game of the series 9-4 on Wednesday night after losing the opener 2-1 on Tuesday.
Daniel Schneemann represented the entire Guardians’ offense in this one, belting a grand slam in the fourth inning. Make no mistake, though: Cleveland batters racked up just three hits all night and looked awful.
Trying to salvage the series tomorrow.#GuardsBall | #VoteGuards pic.twitter.com/3cOujWuRB1
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 18, 2026
It was a rough night for Guardians ace Gavin Williams, too, as he surrendered seven runs (all earned) in five innings of work. He allowed seven hits, two of which left the yard. His ERA is now 3.83.
Christian Yelich greeted Williams with a leadoff homer to open the game. After getting two outs, the right-hander fell victim to some old habits, walking two hitters in a row. At that point, Sal Frelick laced a two-run double to the right-center field gap to make things 3-0 Milwaukee.
Yelich singled in Cooper Pratt in the second frame to add another run to the scoreboard, and Brice Turang hit an RBI double that plated Yelich and made things 5-0.
In the fourth, Travis Bazzana walked, Kyle Manzardo singled, and Brayan Rocchio worked another base on balls to load the bases. Rhys Hoskins struck out, but Schneemann followed with the grand slam that brought Cleveland much closer, 5-4, in the game.
Daniel Schneemann clubs a grand slam 😤 pic.twitter.com/3f7abvAruj
— MLB (@MLB) June 18, 2026
They couldn’t produce anything else on offense, though. The Brewers, on the other hand, did.
Jackson Chourio belted a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth to give the home club a three-run lead, 7-4.
Andrew Vaughn drove in William Contreras in the bottom of the eighth with a two-bagger, and Pratt brought Frelick home with an RBI single in the same inning to make things 9-4.
Bazzana, Manzardo, and Schneemann were the only members of the Guardians’ lineup who were able to contribute hits in the rough night for Cleveland. The unit as a whole drew just three walks, striking out a whopping 13 times. So far, losing Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, and Angel Martinez to injury is hurting more than expected.
Reliever Daniel Espino made his MLB debut with a clean inning and two punchouts:
Daniel Espino debuts in the Majors with a pair of K's during a clean inning of work!
The @CleGuardians prospect hits 99+ mph on all 8 of his fastballs, topping out at 100.3: pic.twitter.com/yXn49iE2vz
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 18, 2026
The 39-35 Guardians will now try to avoid a sweep on Thursday, starting at 2:10 pm ET. Parker Messick (6-3, 2.68) will toe the rubber for Cleveland, facing the surprising Shane Drohan (3-2, 3.59).
NEXT: Chase DeLauter Joins Two Other Guardians On The Injured List
