Guardians relievers allow six runs in eighth inning of disappointing loss to Orioles

CLEVELAND — Nothing happened through the first six innings of the Guardians' game against the Orioles at Progressive Field on Friday night. Then everything happened. Daniel Schneemann hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to break a scoreless tie and give Cleveland what appeared to be a comfortable advantage in front of nearly 24,000 fans. But the bullpen couldn't hold the lead, allowing six runs in the eighth to pave the way for a staggering 6-4 setback that left Cleveland with its fourth loss in six games. The Orioles took aim at a trio of relievers in the fateful eighth, beginning with Shawn Armstrong, who didn't record an out — two walks and a hit batter — and was charged with the first three runs. Connor Brogdon allowed the decisive three-run homer to Jeremiah Jackson, but two of the runs were charged to Erik Sabrowski, who walked one and surrendered an RBI double to pinch hitter Watson Wilson. "What was it four free passes (three walks and a hit batter)? It's tough to beat a good team when you give them free passes," manager Stephen Vogt said. "It was a one-off. I don't see Shawn Armstrong coming in and doing that again. I thought Erik did a nice job trying to wiggle his way out and then (Brogdon) just left a fastball over the middle and got burnt. It was a really unfortunate way for this game to end. We left some opportunities out there offensively, as well." Armstrong stuck around to speak with reporters after the loss. "Didn't throw strikes, nothing really more to say," he said. "It's baseball. It's going to happen. We got a really good group down there (in the bullpen). I put Sabrowski in a tough spot tonight. It's tough to get out of that. We bailed each other out a few times this year. Just didn't go our way tonight." Schneemann, who also made a diving play in his first start of the season at shortstop, capitalized on his final chance at the plate, lining an 0-1 pitch from right-hander Anthony Nunez an estimated 407 feet to right (107.1 mph exit velocity). "Really cool moment for him to pick us up, bases loaded, to come up with two outs and hit the grand slam. That was a huge moment for Schnee," Vogt said. It was a no-doubt second career grand slam for Schneemann. "I'm just glad I was able to stick to an approach," he said. "I was trying to see ball up, be on time and I was able to get that one pretty good. I did know that one (was out)." Coming off one of his worst starts in the majors, when he allowed a career-high eight runs on 11 hits in 4⅔ innings of a 13-1 loss to Braves, Bibee was way better. Working his first quality start of the season, he tossed six shutout innings, gave up only four hits and struck out five. Bibee didn't have his command early, throwing 61 pitches, walking three and allowing two hits over the first three innings, but kept Baltimore off the scoreboard. "I thought that was a huge step in the right direction for Tanner," Vogt said. "I thought the first four innings he was still kind of battling himself, but the fifth and sixth, he locked it in. That was the sharpest stuff we've seen from him in awhile. Those last two innings were vintage Tanner." "I think it was just getting into more of an attack mode," Bibee said. "I feel like early on I tried to make some adjustments from last week and I think some of them were good and some of them were unnecessary. I wasn't giving myself enough room for error and then just kind of went back on the attack." The Guardians left the bases loaded with one out in the first against right-hander Chris Bassitt when Rhys Hoskins popped out and Schneemann grounded to second. "Obviously, it was unfortunate to come away with nothing there in the first. We had him on the ropes, made him throw 30 pitches," Vogt said. Another scoring chance was wasted in the sixth after a leadoff walk from Hoskins followed by an opposite-field single from Schneemann. After multiple bunt attempts, Angel Martinez struck out and Bo Naylor hit into a fielder's choice before Juan Brito struck out swinging. The Guardians had the tying run at the plate in the ninth after Jose Ramirez's career-high fourth walk, but Kyle Manzardo struck out and pinch hitter George Valera grounded out to end a disappointing night. "That game could have gone a lot differently had we just scratched one across," Vogt said. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.