Last week, the Cleveland Guardians had won seven straight at one point, and 10 of their last eleven. Now, however, they have dropped three of their last four games after losing 6-3 to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
Joey Cantillo, Cleveland’s starter, just didn’t have it. His ineffectiveness resulted in another long night for the Guardians’ bullpen.
The left-hander was saddled with the loss after completing just two innings, in which he used 69 pitches. He allowed four runs on three hits and four walks, striking out just one. He also allowed a long home run to James Wood.
Cleveland is now 32-25 on the season, and the recent slips have allowed some of its division rivals to come closer in the standings.
Onward to tomorrow.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/WbFLHbqxhy
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 27, 2026
After taking care of the first frame with no issues, the Nationals put up four runs on the scoreboard in the second. Keibert Ruiz’s single plated both Daylen Lyle and Jacob Young. Then, Wood brought Ruiz home with a mammoth two-run shot to right field to give the visitors a 4-0 lead.
That would be the score until the bottom of the fifth, when Jose Ramirez drove in Steven Kwan with a sac fly.
The Nationals produced two more runs in the top of the ninth, and boy, did they carry a lot of weight. Andres Chaparro hit a painful two-run single off left-hander Will Dion, who was making his MLB debut on Monday after being called up earlier.
The Guardians tried to put together a rally in the bottom of the ninth, but came up short. Kwan walked and Brayan Rocchio singled, with a David Fry strikeout sandwiched in between. After Rocchio’s knock, Travis Bazzana laced a double that drove in Kwan to make things 6-2, with Washington still in command.
Ramirez grounded out, and Rocchio took off to home plate and reached safely with the Guardians’ third run. Chase DeLauter then gave away the last out of the game with a grounder to first base.
The damage could have been even worse, as Daniel Schneemann robbed Curtis Mead of a homer with an amazing leaping catch in center field:
Daniel Schneemann just robbed Curtis Mead of a home run and it was pretty sweet. pic.twitter.com/Dl5dgG0BKq
— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) May 26, 2026
Codi Heuer, Shawn Armstrong, and Colin Holderman combined to toss four scoreless frames, and Dion contributed three innings with two runs allowed in his debut. Unfortunately, Cantillo’s second-inning struggles were too much to overcome.
Rocchio went 3-for-3 with a run, Ramirez drove in two, and Bazzana hit a double and walked twice at the top of the lineup.
The Guardians will try to avoid a sweep on Wednesday, sending Gavin Williams to the mound to face Miles Mikolas at 1:10 pm ET.
NEXT: Guardians Get Best Case Scenario News On Injured Reliever
