Controversial call costs Guardians chance to sweep Mariners in 4-2 loss

CLEVELAND — In the Guardians' eyes, a bogus replay ruling cost them a game Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field. First base umpire Tyler Jones ruled that Seattle's Julio Rodriguez beat a throw to first from Cleveland's Daniel Schneemann, allowing the winning runs to score in a 4-2 loss. The Guardians challenged the call and replays appeared to show the ball in first baseman Kyle Manzardo's glove before Rodriguez's foot reached the bag, but the call stood, which means there was not sufficient evidence to confirm or overrule. That didn't sit well with manager Stephen Vogt or starting pitcher Tanner Bibee after their team was prevented from sweeping the Mariners and extending its winning streak to five games. "It's hard to tell. I'm just sick of it coming back, 'stands,'" Vogt said. "We only get one angle, so I don't know what they have. That's where (MLB) replay is great. I think we do a nice job. There's just been way too many 'stands' calls this year." "Stuff happens," Bibee said. "There's nothing you can do about it. Obviously, you saw (the fans') reaction, so I'll just keep it at that." When asked to elaborate, Bibee said, "no comment." With the score 2-2, the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning, Rodriguez sent a chopper to Schneemann, who was playing behind second base. Schneemann stayed back on the ball and fired it to first on a close play that went against the Guardians, while J.P. Crawford scored the go-ahead run from third and Cole Young followed behind from second. Schneemann was asked if he thought Rodriguez was out. "The call was upheld, so it is what it is," he said. Both runs in the seventh were charged to Bibee, who allowed four or more runs for the 11th time in his last 12 starts. He also surrendered a game-tying two-run shot to Randy Arozarena to boost his season total to a career-high 26 homers. "I thought it went really well," Bibee overstated. "Obviously, it doesn't go my way all the time, but I thought it was a good step in the right direction. I threw a lot of strikes, a lot of competitive pitches." "I thought Tanner was great. That's as good of strike throwing as we've seen from him in quite a while," Vogt said. "It was an outstanding outing out of him, didn't end the way it should have." Steven Kwan doubled and Schneemann followed with a two-run homer in the third off Mariners starter Bryce Miller, who entered the outing with a 5.98 ERA. They were the only two hits allowed by Seattle pitchers, who retired the final 19 batters. "We have to get more than two hits to win a game," Vogt said. "We battled. I thought our at-bats were OK. I thought we followed the plan pretty well. We wanted to jump his fastball. We hit some balls really hard at people. We've just gotta get more hits." Though they failed to complete the sweep, the Guardians won their second straight series, going 4-2 on the homestand. "This has been a really good homestand. I'm proud of our guys," Vogt said. "We just have to continue to do what we're doing." "I think we played well this series. I think we just try to take that momentum into September," Schneemann said. "Our goal is to win series. Unfortunately we weren't able to get the sweep, but what we try to do is win series, and that's what we did." Cleveland enters the final month of the regular season still alive in the wild card race. "All we've gotta focus on right now is just winning the next game, winning every day," Bibee said. "The only way we put ourselves into position to get into the postseason is by winning games next month." Landing spot Reports Sunday morning had Carlos Santana joining the Cubs three days after the Guardians gave the veteran first baseman his official release. Santana, 39, slashed .225/.316/.335 in his third stint in Cleveland after signing a one-year deal worth $12 million prior to the season. Santana's tenure in Cleveland spanned from 2010-17, 2019-20 and 2025. Next up The Guardians open a three-game series against the wild card rival Red Sox at Fenway Park today at 1:35 p.m. Left-hander Parker Messick (1-0, 0.66 ERA) makes his third career start in the opener, opposing right-hander Brayan Bello (10-6, 2.99), while RHP Slade Cecconi (5-6, 4.41) goes for the Guards on Tuesday (6:45 p.m.) against LHP Garrett Crochet (14-5, 2.40). Neither team has named a starter for the series finale Wednesday (6:45 p.m.). Roundin' third Kwan entered Sunday tied with the Phillies' for the fourth-most defensive runs saved (plus 16) in the majors. ** It was a quiet series for former Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor, who went 2-for-10 with a stolen base and two strikeouts in his first three games against Cleveland after being traded in the offseason. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.