The Cleveland Guardians suffered their third consecutive loss on Friday, being dominated from start to finish by the Tampa Bay Rays in an 11-3 loss at Tropicana Field. It just wasn’t Joey Cantillo’s night, as he allowed five runs in just 3.2 innings of work.
Not only did Cantillo struggle all night, allowing a whopping eight hits and walking one, but he made the Guardians’ bullpen work and the unit was already tired. Matt Festa, Franco Aleman, Tim Herrin, Shawn Armstrong, and Hunter Gaddis all had to pitch in a game that was virtually doomed from the start.
On to the next one.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/WmdtRkUMUm
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 25, 2026
The Guardians are now 54-51 and are inching dangerously close to .500 ball. Angel Martinez’s return was the silver lining of the night for Cleveland, but they didn’t look competitive on Friday.
Rays slugger Ryan Vilade opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, belting a two-run homer against Cantillo. The Guardians cut the deficit to one in the top of the fourth, when Brayan Rocchio doubled and plated Chase DeLauter.
The bottom part of the inning would bring in three more runs for the home club, chasing Cantillo out of the game. Jonny DeLuca hit an RBI single to drive in Cedric Mullins and later would cross home plate on a fielder’s choice. Nick Fortes would then hit an RBI knock of his own, bringing in Chandler Simpson to put Tampa up 5-1.
Former Guardians prospect Junior Caminero singled in Nick Fortes with Tampa’s sixth run in the sixth against Festa, and Fortes drove in Ben Williamson with a double an inning later versus Herrin.
Simpson plated Jonathan Aranda with a sac fly in the bottom of the eighth with Armstrong on the mound, and Richie Palacios contributed the dagger against Gaddis: a three-run shot that made things 11-1. Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer in the ninth, but that was it.
It was one of Cleveland’s worst games of the season. They allowed 11 runs and 15 hits, committed two errors, and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. It was an ugly display by the suddenly reeling Guardians.
Armstrong appeared to suffer some sort of injury. The Guardians should update his status throughout the day on Saturday.
Martinez went 0-for-4 in his debut, while Jose Ramirez had the day off. Hedges, Rocchio, and Gabriel Arias racked up two hits each, with Rocchio’s being a double and Hedges’ a homer.
The series will continue on Saturday, with Tanner Bibee facing Nick Martinez starting at 6:10 pm ET.
NEXT: Analyst Urges Guardians To Make Big Moves At Trade Deadline
