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CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 03: Starting pitcher Joey Cantillo #54 of the Cleveland Guardians pitches during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs of the home opener at Progressive Field on April 03, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Well. What a game. Cantillo was nearly perfect this afternnon, going 5 1/3 innings of “1-run” ball. He notched 6 strikeouts, walking only 2. I put 1-run ball in quotations because, if you watched the game, that run being earned is nonsense. For those who might not have watched, Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a lazy fly just past the infield to which Jose, Arias, and Kwan all converged. Arias called off Jose and Kwan, and then proceeded to let the ball drop. PCA got to second on that error-that-somehow-wasn’t-an-error. The Cubs brought PCA home right after. Cantillo wasn’t in the zone much today, but got the Cubs to chase quite a bit. He did a fantastic job of limiting hard contact, only surrendering 1 batted ball over 100 mph. That ball, for reference, was a groundball that escaped up the middle of the infield.
A few innings after the Cubs scored, the Guardians put guys on second and third with DeLauter coming up to bat. Counsell had brought in submarine lefty Hoby Milner to face the top of the Guardians’ order, and DeLauter did this against him:
The kid just won’t stop hitting. Arias, shown in this video, did in fact get thrown out at the plate… somehow. From a different angle, it looked like he got a pretty bad jump. Despite there being two outs, he got a bad jump. Speaking of jumps, Connor Brogdon pitched the 7th. Facing Matt Shaw, he surrendered a ball that was smoked to right-center, and Daniel Scheneemann was able to reel it in with this unbelievable play.
On the bright side — with Arias — he smoked this Hunter Harvey slider in the bottom of the 7th to give the Guardians the lead.
With two outs in that same very inning, Kwan walked. DeLauter came up, worked a 3-1 count, and then obliterated an inside fastball.
DeLauter went 3-4 in his regular season debut in Cleveland, notching 2 singles and a 2-run homer. For those keeping count, he’s slashing .346/.370/.923 through 27 plate appearances, good for a 271 wRC+. He’s up to 5 HRs and 8 RBI.
Flying somewhat under the radar was what is, somehow, an almost routine thing for Jose Ramirez. After the homer, he softly served a liner into center. What made that a signature Jose play was him somehow turning that into a double. Not many people turn 73 mph line drives up the middle into doubles.
And not to let CTC figurehead Quincy Wheeler’s favorite reliever go unnoticed… Matt Festa pitched today! He came on for Cantillo with runners on, and got back-to-back pop-ups to end the 6th.
Armstrong pitched a clean 8th, and Cade shut the door in the 9th. Cade was much better today. He was able to throw his splitter more consistently for strikes, which had been a problem for him so far this year. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.
It’ll be Cecconi vs. Imanaga tomorrow.
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