Guardians lose another in series opener against the Padres

CLEVELAND — The mascot Mustard received one of the biggest cheers of the night from the Progressive Field crowd Friday when it beat Ketchup to win the Hot Dog Derby in a photo finish. There's some insight as to what kind of a night it was for the Guardians. Needing a win in the worst way, fourth-place Cleveland instead dropped the opener of a three-game series against the Padres 7-5, losing for the 16th time in its last 21 games to fall five games behind first-place Chicago. San Diego won its sixth straight. "We've been through times like this before. It's no different," manager Stephen Vogt said. "We just have to keep working. I thought our guys competed well. I thought we finished the game well. You want to score more runs than them to win the game, obviously, but I was really pleased with the way we played today." The Guardians scored a run on a wild pitch in the eighth and brought the tying run to the plate three times after a leadoff double from Brayan Rocchio in the ninth. Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez struck out to end the game. Reeling Cleveland needed a strong start from ace Gavin Williams, but he failed to deliver, working his shortest outing of the season and allowing five runs — two homers — over 4 1/3 innings. It was only the second time in 25 starts this year that Williams has failed to last at least five innings. "I really wasn't throwing any strikes with the off-speed pitches, except the curveball. That was about the only thing I could land," he said. "It's not a good night when you're not landing everything for strikes." "It was a weird one," Vogt said of Williams' outing. "I thought there were some innings where he looked really good and some innings where the command was off. He didn't have great fastball command tonight. He obviously just made a couple mistakes on the homers. It was definitely not his best command night." Staked to a 3-0 lead through three innings, Williams gave it all back and then some, as the Padres pulled ahead for good on a tying homer from Fernando Tatis Jr. and a two-run double from Luis Campusano in the fifth. "It's definitely frustrating, especially on my part," Williams said. "Seeing what the offense did tonight, I wish I could've put up a little more zeroes. I don't really know when it happened, but I didn't have my best stuff." "As advertised," Vogt said of the Padres' lineup. "That third time through with Gavin, they really jumped him. It's a good lineup. It's deep. It's very long and they've got a good bench. That's a really good team over there." The Guardians built a 3-0 lead through two innings on solo homers from Nate Lowe and Rocchio, with Lowe adding another RBI on a two-out single in the third and scoring in the eighth after a leadoff double. "He's been great, professional at-bats, it doesn't matter what the situation," Vogt said of Lowe, who owns a lifetime .371 (26-for-70) average at Progressive Field. "He doesn't try to do too much with runners in scoring position. He takes his chances. He's been doing it for a long time and he's been a really good presence in the middle of our order since he's been here. "(Padres starter Michael) King looked like his command was a little off the first couple innings as well (as Williams) and I thought we made him pay for it. Roki jumped him for the homer. I thought we had great at-bats. I was really proud of the way we competed. It was an unfortunate result." Lowe, a six-year veteran, has some advice for Cleveland's young lineup down the stretch. "Once you get to August and September less is always more," he said. "When you've got a good feel, you've gotta take that into the game and be confident and just go out there and execute. You just got to keep going. I've fallen in the trap, too, trying to do too much. It's just a trust thing of playing the long game and just keep going one day at a time." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.