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A night to forget in Los Angeles for the Cleveland Guardians

ByJames Mastrucci|
Cleveland Guardians v Los Angeles Angels
Cleveland Guardians v Los Angeles Angels | Luke Hales/GettyImages

There are many ways that Saturday night's matchup between the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angeles can be described, but the most-fitting seems to be a night to forget.

A game that started off somewhat competitively became a total nightmare for the Cleveland Guardians about halfway through. What was once a 3-3 tie entering the bottom of the 5th quickly became a seven-run deficit for Cleveland. It was a four-batter sequence in this inning that essentially ended the Guardians' chances of winning and promptly put them into mop-up mode for the final few innings.

Guardians' ace Tanner Bibee gave up a leadoff single to Luis Rengifo to start the inning. It was nothing too bad; leadoff singles happen, but what followed was a complete and total disaster. Bibee would surrender a two-run homer to Mike Trout, giving the Angels a 5-3 lead. By itself, this would not be too terrible; however, Bibee's troubles were only just beginning.

Bibee would hit Jorge Soler on the second pitch of his at-bat following Trout's homer. This mistake was compounded by giving up a two-run homer to Logan O'Hoppe on a 3-2 sinker that was far too high, making it rather easy for him to do damage.

Now trailing 7-3, it was Triston McKenzie's turn to try his hand at shutting down the Angels' offense, and like BIbee before him, it was not his day. McKenzie would allow three runs on three hits and two walks in the inning as Cleveland's deficit grew to seven. Cleveland had McKenzie go out to pitch the bottom of the 6th, but consecutive walks with two outs in the innings would be the end of the line for him, as he was replaced by Joey Cantillo.

It has been a little rough for Cleveland's pitching staff to start the year, and Bibee's dud in Los Angeles is not helping matters. Now, the Guardians will be counting on the underwhelming so far Luis Ortiz to do what Bibee couldn't and bring stability to their rotation before returning back to Cleveland for their Home Opener and subsequent homestand.