After dropping the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 7-1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cleveland Guardians completed a furious comeback in the nightcap and won it 5-3 at Progressive Field thanks to Travis Bazzana’s walk-off, two-run homer.
Cleveland started the day with a 51-46 record and is now 52-47. It could have been 51-48, but they came back from being down 3-0 to tie the game in the eighth inning and then won it in the bottom of the ninth.
Never count us out!#GuardsBall | #GuardiWins pic.twitter.com/sm4ynVt1Iv
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 19, 2026
After a rain delay to start the game, Logan Allen took the ball but wasn’t at his best, allowing three runs in 3.1 frames. He surrendered six hits and walked three, striking out three. One of the three runs was unearned.
A walk and a single put runners in the corners for Pittsburgh against Allen in the second. Brandon Lowe drove in Ryan O’Hearn with a sac fly for the opening run for the visitors.
The air conditions weren’t always optimal on Saturday night. That affected the scoreboard, as Petey Halpin and David Fry lost track of a popup hit by Esmerlyn Valdez that just disappeared in the sky, dropping in for an RBI double that gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
Allen opened the fourth frame with two walks. After striking out Jared Triolo, he allowed a soft ground ball near the catcher. Austin Hedges made a throwing error, with Jake Mangum, the batter, reaching first base on the play and Lowe scoring from second base. That was the third run of the game for Pittsburgh.
The Pirates sent lefty Mason Montgomery as the opener and then righty Khristian Curtis as the bulk reliever. The former tossed a scoreless first frame, and the latter dropped five shutout innings to keep the Guardians’ offense at bay up until that point. The rest of Pittsburgh’s bullpen, however, lost control of the game.
In the seventh, Cleveland had runners on second and third with two outs, but Patrick Bailey struck out to end the frame. An inning later, they had runners on first and second with one out, and this time Chase DeLauter came through with an RBI hit that cut the Pirates’ lead to two.
Then, DeLauter stole second and Brayan Rocchio scored Cleveland’s second run on a wild pitch. After that, rookie Khalil Watson came up huge with a game-tying single that brought DeLauter home.
With the game tied at three, the Guardians’ offense went to work against reliever Dennis Santana. Bailey opened the bottom of the ninth with a single and almost scored the winning run on Kwan’s double, but he was tagged out at home plate after failing to slide.
With Kwan at second, Bazzana caught an 89 mph changeup and sent it to center field for his eighth homer of the year, and perhaps the most important to this point. It was a walk-off blast that will be remembered for a long time.
TRAVIS BAZZANA WALK-OFF HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/wxPgF5Baqj
— MLB (@MLB) July 19, 2026
Steven Kwan keeps improving, going 3-for-4 with two runs. Bazzana racked up two hits, including the homer, with a run, two RBI, and two walks, while DeLauter went 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI. The bullpen was also huge, as Shawn Armstrong, Erik Sabrowski, Franco Aleman, Colin Holderman, Will Dion, and Cade Smith combined to toss 5.2 scoreless frames.
Cleveland will try to win the series on Sunday, sending Joey Cantillo to the mound against superstar Paul Skenes.
NEXT: Guardians Manager Offers Key Update On Injured Starter
