Guardians ruin Francisco Lindor's return to Cleveland, beat Mets 3-1

CLEVELAND — The Guardians ensured Francisco Lindor would not have a triumphant return to Progressive Field. Lindor went hitless, striking out in his first at-bat in front of his former fans Monday night, and Cleveland pitching shut down the rest of the Mets in a 3-1 victory to open a three-game interleague series. The Guardians won their fourth straight, improving to 7-1 over their last eight games. They're off to one of the best starts in franchise history, but believe it's much more. "I think we're kind of already to the point past the start," said David Fry, who had a hand in all three runs, driving in two and scoring once. "After the first week or two, the new season kind of wears off and you're like, 'All right, here we go. We got 162, show up every day, do the same thing.' And we just have a really good mindset and kind of daily routine that we go through and everybody's just having a lot of fun right now." "I just feel like everyone wants to keep the music going," said Cleveland starter Ben Lively, who continued to shine since replacing injured ace Shane Bieber in the rotation. "Everyone wants to keep having fun after games. We get so quiet after a loss. It's insane, because I know all of us just want to just be partying and having the music going the whole time." Lively, who allowed only a run while striking out seven over 5⅔ innings, limited the Mets to a run on four hits — No. 9 batter Tomas Nido's solo homer in the third — through the first five innings. "He's just pounding the zone with strikes," manager Stephen Vogt said of Lively, who hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his seven starts, while lasting at least five innings in six of them. "When you're attacking the zone like that and not over the middle, you're going to get weak contact early. And that's what Ben's done consistently since he's been here and he just goes deep into the game for us and just knows how to pitch." Cleveland pitchers retired 10 straight to end the game, limiting the Mets to only six hits. The Guardians scored two runs in the first inning for the third straight game, Fry delivering a two-out, two-run single after Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor reached on back-to-back base hits. Fry has been clutch all season, upping his batting average with runners in scoring position to .381 (8-for-21). "He's kind of the heart and soul behind the scenes," Vogt said. "We've talked about him a lot of nights in a row now. He's somebody who's the same person every single day, whether he's going well, going bad, on the bench, in the game, moving positions eight times during the game. He wants to play and does it well." After New York got within a run in the third, rookie Kyle Manzardo bumped the lead back to two in the fourth with an RBI double to the gap in left-center. "It's by far the best swing he's taken since he's been up here," Vogt said. "He was on the heater tonight all night. He was on fastball timing and whenever hitters are on fastball timing, they're going to have success. "It's going to take him a little while to get settled in, but to see him drive one and for him to see it hit outfield grass, drive a run in on a barrel, it can really propel him into something special." It's been a struggle for Manzardo since his promotion from the minors, but he looks like he's getting more comfortable on the big stage, collecting hits in each of his last three games. "I would say like the last week or so everything's kind of started to slow down a little bit for me," he said. "I feel like it's so difficult not to speed up when you come up like I did. I've kind of taken a step back, just kind of focusing on getting back to trying to be myself. "It's a really fortunate situation I've been in. I'm just trying to contribute to the team's success anyway I can, any given night." Manzardo's hit was the only one for the Guardians after they collected three in the first off Mets starter Tylor Magill. Lindor returned to Cleveland for the first time since he was traded following the 2020 season, going hitless in four at-bats. Lindor acknowledged fans with a wave after a video tribute was shown on the scoreboard while he warmed up in the outfield grass prior to the game. He received an overall warm reception — with a smattering of boos — as he stepped to the plate for his first at-bat in the opening inning. Lindor, who won two Gold Gloves in Cleveland, flashed some leather in the eighth, ranging into the outfield grass to snag a grounder from Tyler Freeman and throwing off his back foot to get the out. Freeman was originally called safe, but it was overturned, drawing boos as Lindor bowed to the disgruntled fans. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on Twitter.