The Cleveland Guardians warded off a seventh-inning rally to back 5 2/3 strong innings from Noah Syndergaard en route to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series.
Trailing 4-1 entering the seventh, Toronto pulled within a run after opening the inning with three consecutive hits, including Whit Merrifield’s RBI double and Brandon Belt’s run-scoring single.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then walked to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Trevor Stephan came on in relief for Enyel De Los Santos and struck out George Springer, who disagreed with a called third strike and was subsequently tossed by plate umpire Jeremie Rehak. Blue Jays manager John Schneider was also upset with the call, leading to his ejection.
Matt Chapman followed with an infield single to load the bases, but Stephan got Alejandro Kirk to pop out before fanning Davis Schneider to keep Cleveland in front.
Sam Hentges tossed a scoreless eighth and Emmanuel Clase worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 31st save of the season.
Syndergaard (2-5) allowed one run on six hits while walking two and striking out five to earn his first victory as a member of the Guardians. He was making his third start with Cleveland after being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 26.
Brayan Rocchio ripped a pair of RBI doubles for the Guardians, who were able to salvage a split of the series.
Springer doubled and singled and Merrifield also finished with a pair of hits for Toronto, which lost for just the second time in its last seven games.
Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah (3-9) lasted four-plus innings, surrendering four runs on four hits. He walked three and fanned six.
Manoah’s day came to an end when Jose Tena and Rocchio led off the fifth with back-to-back doubles to give Cleveland a 3-1 lead. Rocchio later scored on Kole Calhoun’s groundout to push the Guardians’ advantage to three.
Toronto’s Santiago Espinal opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single. Cleveland quickly responded in the bottom of the frame as Tena’s base hit plated Ramon Laureano to make it 1-1.
–Field Level Media
