Guardians home opener: Aaron Civale can't keep scoreless streak going, takes loss

CLEVELAND — Aaron Civale's splendid start to the season came to a crashing halt. Cleveland's right-handed starter stretched his scoreless-inning streak to 11, but Seattle ended the party with two runs in the fifth and ultimately took the lead in the sixth as the Guardians lost their home opener 5-3 in front of a sellout crowd at Progressive Field on Friday. "I tried to mix my pitches how I needed to and tried to read how the game was going," Civale said. "I tried to let the game tell us what to throw, I think we did a pretty good job of that, but I just missed some pitches on the plate in the fifth inning there." Civale ultimately pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing four earned runs with nine hits, one walk and five strikeouts, falling to 1-1 on the season. It was only the fourth time in his career he allowed nine or more hits. While it was a typical frigid April day in Cleveland, Civale said the weather wasn't a factor. "You don't think about the weather too much," he said. "We all deal with this, we all play baseball in Cleveland. It's nothing new, there's no surprises." Civale stymied the Mariners in his first start April 1 in Seattle. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. On Friday, he picked up right where he left off, allowing just three hits and one walk and striking out one through the first four innings. Only one runner advanced to scoring position during that span. "I was pretty locked in early," Civale said. "I was trying to see how to game plan (worked) and just kept adjusting as I needed to." But Seattle's eighth and ninth hitters made the adjustment in the fifth. Cooper Hummel led off with a shot to right and J.P. Crawford drove him home with a double to left, cutting the Guardians' lead to 3-1. Crawford scored two batters later when Ty France tagged Civale for a single to left field. He worked out of that jam by striking out Eugenio Suarez and inducing Teoscar Hernandez into a groundout, stranding France on third base. Civale struck out two of the first three batters in the sixth sandwiched around Jarred Kelenic's double. Crawford once again came through in the nine hole, blasting a double to center that tied the game. He entered Friday hitting .227, but improved to 6-for-15 in his last four games with three doubles and two RBIs. He has three multihit games during that span. That ended Civale's day, as manager Terry Francona elected to go to Nick Sandlin with Julio Rodriguez due up. Seattle's superstar showed why he won American League Rookie of the Year last season, blasting a two-run homer over the left-field wall. "In the fifth inning, left some pitches over the plate," Civale said. "I tried to make the adjustment. I threw the best I could." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.