Alex Cobb flirts with perfect game, leads Guardians past Pirates

Field Level Media|published: Sun 1st September, 16:23 2024

Sep 1, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Alex Cobb (35) delivers a pitch in the second inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Alex Cobb took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Kyle Manzardo clubbed the first two homers of his career, as the Cleveland Guardians beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 on Sunday.

Cobb (2-1) retired the first 18 batters after missing two starts before coming off the 15-day injury-list due to a broken fingernail. The 36-year-old Cobb made his third start since debuting this season on Aug. 9 after recovering from hip surgery.

Acquired by the Guardians on June 30 from San Francisco, the right-hander's perfect-game bid ended on a comebacker from Isiah Kiner-Falefa to open the seventh and followed with a single by Bryan Reynolds for Pittsburgh's only two hits.

That ended the day for Cobb, who struck out six and was charged with a run when Kiner-Falefa scored via Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges' poor throw to second on Oneill Cruz's stolen base.

However, the AL Central-leading Guardians homered four times en route to taking two of three in the set.

Manzardo, meanwhile, thrived in his return to the majors after playing his first 30 career games with Cleveland from May 6 to June 16. Manzardo batted .207 during that initial big-league run, but he delivered solo homers in the fourth and sixth off Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller, who yielded four runs and 11 hits, including three homers, in 5 1/3 innings. Keller struck out seven and walked none.

With one out in the first, Cleveland's Andres Gimenez cleared the right-center field wall for his second home run of the series. The Guardians added another run in the frame as Jose Ramirez singled, went to second on a passed ball, then scored via Jhonkensy Noel's double down the left field line.

Manzardo made it 3-0 in the fourth with his milestone homer, a towering 409-foot drive into the right-center field seats. In the sixth, the rookie went deep again, taking a Keller pitch 413 feet to nearly the same spot.

After Pittsburgh finally generated some offense in the seventh, Ramirez hit his 34th homer, onto the left-field fan porch, in the bottom of that frame. Lane Thomas delivered an RBI single later in that inning for a 6-1 advantage.

--Field Level Media