Unpacking a successful Guardians sweep of the Bucs

PITTSBURGH -- The Guardians’ second road trip of the season went much better than the first.

The Guardians finished off a three-game sweep of the Pirates on Sunday with a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Cleveland went 4-2 on its road trip through Baltimore and Pittsburgh, after going 3-6 on its season-opening nine-game trip to Kansas City, San Diego and Anaheim.

The Guardians are 9-3 since that trip as they head back to Cleveland for a nine-game homestead against the Yankees, Red Sox and Twins.

“We have been playing good ball,” starter Logan Allen said. “We’re happy to get out of here with a sweep, and we’re excited to go back home and keep it rolling.”

Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s win and the six-game trip.

1. Allen continues rotation’s strong stretch

Allen won the Guardians’ fifth starter job this spring, and he’s carried that momentum into the regular season. He allowed one run on five hits and one walk over 5 2/3 innings on Sunday. Through four starts this year, the lefty has a 2.11 ERA, which leads all Guardians starters.

“I think I'm throwing everything the same [as the past],” Allen said of his arsenal. “I’m just trying to be a little more aggressive and attack guys a little bit more, putting the pressure on the hitters to make decisions. I’m not trying to nibble as much. So I feel like that's why I’m having a little bit more success.”

The Guardians’ rotation has been trending upward after a rough start to the season.

On the opening nine-game road trip, it recorded a 6.70 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP in 43 innings, with 26 strikeouts and 18 walks. They averaged just 4.8 innings per outing.

Over the past 12 games (dating back to the April 8 home opener), the rotation has a 2.77 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP in 65 innings and 65 strikeouts compared to 30 walks. They’ve averaged 5.4 innings per start in that span.

“I think we're making progress as a group,” Guardians president Chris Antonetti said. “We’ve talked from Spring Training that one of the goals for this group is to build consistency, where they give us a chance to win games more often than not and absorb innings.

“I think we started to see signs from that group that they're making progress, and hopefully they continue in that direction.”

2. Clase struggles

Emmanuel Clase has had an uncharacteristic start to the 2025 season, and the All-Star closer recorded his second blown save on Sunday.

Clase allowed three runs on four hits and one walk in the ninth inning. That included an Enmanuel Valdez walk in a seven-pitch plate appearance, and back-to-back doubles by Tommy Pham and Adam Frazier off cutters over the middle of the plate.

“I haven’t watched the replays, but any time they're finding barrels, it's just in the middle [of the plate],” manager Stephen Vogt said. “The walk, kind of bad counts. But the ball is just in the middle of the plate right now.”

Clase recorded a 0.61 ERA in 2024, when he allowed just five earned runs in 74 1/3 innings over 74 appearances. In 11 appearances this season, he’s permitted nine runs on 20 hits and three walks over 10 1/3 innings.

There has perhaps been some tough luck in Clase’s start. Entering Sunday, his batting average on balls in play was .455; it was .195 in 2024. But he also has missed at times over the plate with his cutter and paid for it.

He’s been working on his slider’s shape in an effort to keep hitters off-balance and off of his cutter. Of his 30 pitches on Sunday, Clase threw 19 cutters and 11 sliders.

3. Manzardo powering up

Kyle Manzardo hit five homers in 53 big league games last year. He’s hit six through 20 games this season, after his two-run blast in the seventh on Sunday. Manzardo went deep in consecutive games in Pittsburgh.

“It’s a beautiful park,” Manzardo said. “And obviously, when you hit well at it, it definitely pushes it all the way up my rankings.”

Manzardo also drew the start at first base on Sunday, marking just his fourth appearance there this season. He has been the DH in his other 14 starts, but consistently works on his defense before games to stay ready.

That was evident in the fourth, when Manzardo saved a run with a nice stop on a Jared Triolo grounder down the first-base line.

“This is the product of Manzo working his tail off every single day,” Vogt said.