Parker Messick’s laborious start showcased biggest problem on Guardians’ roster 

Sometimes all it takes is one inning to ruin a starting pitcher’s outing. On Saturday, that inning came right away. 

While the Red Sox didn’t manage to score a run against Messick in the first inning on Saturday, they forced him to throw 30 pitches, which all but confirmed he’d have a short outing. 

That sentiment came to fruition four innings later when Stephen Vogt was forced to pull Messick after just five innings after 91 pitches. 

Although Messick didn’t take the loss, Saturday’s start marked the third straight outing where Messick hasn’t gotten out of the sixth inning. 

That may not be a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, but Saturday’s game showed how dangerous a lack of length from him can be considering it meant the Guardians were forced to rely on Matt Festa in a high-leverage opportunity 

And Festa did Festa things, as he gave up a leadoff walk, had a throwing error on one of the worst pickoff attempts you’ll ever see and surrendered an RBI double to Connor Wong that was initially ruled as a home run. 

While Wong’s ball ended up staying in the park, it still gave Boston the go-ahead run in what became a 9-1 loss. 

Parker Messick labored through another start for Guardians

Again, Messick giving the Guardians five strong innings isn’t the worst thing in the world; most teams would kill to get that from a rookie starter. 

But he spent the first two months of the season showing why he’s more than just your average rookie pitcher. Saturday’s start may not have lost him any ground in the suddenly wide-open American League Rookie of the Year race, but it probably didn’t gain him any ground, either. 

The Guardians have a solid bullpen that’s led by an All-World closer in Cade Smith, but the one hole in the ‘pen is their low-leverage spots. 

Festa’s been put in less high-leverage situations as of late thanks to the emergence of Colin Holderman, but Vogt was forced to use him for an inning-plus yesterday after Slade Cecconi’s short outing (plus he took a comebacker off the leg). 

Codi Heuer was able to stop the bleeding a bit, but he gave way to Shawn Armstrong (who allowed one run) and Will Dion (who allowed six runs). 

Dion only gave up two hits in the final inning but ended up surrendering those six runs thanks in part to a pivotal error from José Ramírez and an errant throw from Stuart Fairchild. It was the rare sloppy defensive game for the Guardians, and the Red Sox took advantage. 

The Guardians’ were able to survive Cecconi’s shaky start yesterday thanks to an early offensive surge, but those bats went quiet on Saturday against Sonny Gray. 

Messick gave them enough of an edge on Saturday, but they weren’t able to take advantage. They’re going to need to change that trend if they want to be a true contender this season. 

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