CLEVELAND, OH — less than 24 hours after being held to two hits in a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, rookie DH Kyle Manzardo belted his first and second career home runs to help the Cleveland Guardians take two of three from the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
Clvland, which dropped the second game of a three-game tilt vs. the Pirates, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a 405-foot home run to center by 2B Andres Gimenez, and a RBI double from RF Jhonkensy Noel, scoring 3B Jose Ramirez.
Then, Manzardo entered the chat.
Manzardo, a 5’11, 205-pound rookie from Couer d’Alene, ID belted his first of of Pirates starting RHP Mitch Keller (11-8, 3.84) in the bottom of the fourth, a 409-foot shot into the right center bleachers, to give the Guards a 3-0 lead.
Little did the 33,750 in attendance know that he was just getting started.
In his second at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Guards still up by three, Manzardo hit his second home run, a 413-foot shot into right center off of losing pitcher Mitch Keller (11-9). For the game, Keller went 5.1 innings, gave up 11 hits, surrendered three earned runs, seven strikeouts and no walks.
For his Guards counterpart, Alex Cobb, he has a much better outing.
Cobb, re-acquired from San Fransisco from LHP Jacob Bresnahan and INF Nate Furman, was back on the job for Cleveland in going six scoreless innings, six strikeouts and no walks, before allowing two hits in the seventh inning to 3B Isiah Kiner-Falefa and LF Bryan Reynolds.
With the win, Cleveland moves to 78-59, 3.5 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals, and one back of the New York Yankees for best mark in the AL. With the loss, the Pirates drop to 63-73, 16.5 games back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.