Guardians crushed after bullpen ruins top prospect's MLB debut vs D-backs

Yesterday, Parker Messick dazzled in his first taste of MLB action. While the Diamondbacks tagged Messick for a run in his first inning, he bounced and tossed 6 1/3 strong innings and allowed only the one run. 

It didn’t take long for the Guardians’ bullpen to ruin it. After Hunter Gaddis tossed a scoreless inning, Cade Smith got the last out of the eighth inning before giving up a game-tying solo home run to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the ninth inning. 

An inning later, Matt Festa allowed the game-winning single to Adrian Del Castillo to finalize one of the worst losses of the year for the Guardians. 

Guardians crushed after bullpen ruins top prospect's MLB debut vs D-backs

The loss stings for the Guardians in a variety of ways. The first is the obvious one: it was a loss. After being just a half-game back in the Wild Card race last week, they now sit three games back and were leapfrogged by the Kansas City Royals. 

It also stings because it spoiled what was a fantastic MLB debut by Messick. The left-handed pitching prospect stepped into Joey Cantillo’s spot in the rotation with ease and recorded six strikeouts to go along with seven hits allowed and one walk. 

It’s also disheartening to see the Guardians’ bullpen blow such a close game. While they’ve mostly been solid in the near-month since Emmanuel Clase got suspended, they’ve also had their fair share of blow ups.

While Smith likely won’t lose his spot as the team’s closer after the rough outing, he’s now allowed runs in back-to-back outings, which is a bit alarming. 

There’s also no excuse for Festa to be on the roster, let alone be in the game in the 10th inning. Yes, Erik Sabrowski and Nic Enright were likely down because of their usage previously in the series, but at this point Kolby Allard stands out as a better option than Festa. 

It also didn’t help that the Guardians didn’t do anything in the top of the inning. Brayan Rocchio started the inning as the ghost runner but never ended up going anywhere thanks to a strikeout from Angel Martínez, a lineout from Steven Kwan and a pinch-hit strikeout from David Fry. 

It was a failure at every level. 

The only good thing to come from this horrible series is that it somehow could be worse. While the Yankees have won five games in a row, the Red Sox have dropped three in a row and the Mariners have dropped five in a row. Things would be a lot worse for the Guardians if it wasn’t for those losing streaks. 

They’ll also get a boost tomorrow when the Red Sox and Yankees start a four-game series against each other, which means they’ll end up cannibalizing some wins from each other. 

The Guardians are still in the postseason hunt, but their rough trip to the desert has made things tougher.