PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Manzardo hit a pinch-hit homer off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning to preserve a terrific outing for starter Gavin Williams and lead the Cleveland Guardians to a 1-0 win over Philadelphia on Friday night.
Cade Smith worked a scoreless ninth for his 19th save in a game that needed just 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Cristopher Sánchez and Williams matched up in a classic pitchers' duel where each tossed eight shutout innings in front of 38,092 fans on a rainy night. They were the first opposing starters to each pitch at least eight scoreless innings since Miami's Ryan Weathers and Detroit's Reese Olson on May 14, 2024.
Manzardo made Williams (7-3) a winner when the left-handed hitter launched a homer the opposite way to left off Duran (1-2).
Sánchez tossed four-hit ball over eight innings and struck out six. He threw 96 pitches and lowered his ERA to a staggering 1.62 on the season.
Coming off his first shutout of the season, Sánchez ran his scoreless streak to 37 2/3 innings, which moved him past Cliff Lee (34 innings) into second place and within striking distance of the franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings. Grover Alexander tossed 41 straight innings in one stretch in the 1911 season.
Williams was just as stout. He struck out 11 and walked none.
He made NL batting champion Trea Turner look bad on flailed check-swing on a sweeper for his ninth strikeout. He then froze Kyle Schwarber, back in the lineup after missing three games with an illness, on a 97.5 mph sinker for his 10th strikeout.
Sánchez and the Phillies avoided a scary moment when third baseman Alec Bohm crashed hard into catcher J.T. Realmuto as they circled Petey Halpin's foul pop. Bohm made the catch and Realmuto stayed down on one knee for a bit until he stood up, winked at Bohm to signify all was good and stayed in the game.
Realmuto even singled off Williams with one out in the eighth inning. Williams then retired the left-handed rookie Justin Crawford to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Guardians sent RHP Slade Cecconi (3-4, 5.16 ERA) to the mound against Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (3-0, 1.99 ERA). Heavy rain in the forecast could wipe this one out early.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Guest876589 said:
TrueLocalGal said:
What an amazing story. There is always hope
CA Is Burning said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.