When you leave a lot of bodies on the bags, good things are hard to come by. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, April 5, the Cleveland Guardians left six players on base in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs<\/a>, splitting the series 1-1. While the starting pitching and bullpen arms looked phenomenal for most of the game, the winning run came down to a walk allowed by Connor Brogdon, before a single into right-center field was the separation. <\/p>\n They’ll look to take the series from the Cubs in game two, which will commence roughly 40 minutes after game one concludes. <\/p>\n The Struggles at the Plate<\/p>\n The Guardians’ only hit came from the bat of CJ Kayfus, who knocked his first of the 2026 campaign<\/a> over the head of Cubs’ right fielder Michael Conforto in the bottom of the sixth inning.<\/p>\n Just a few pitches later, Kayfus was able to end up at third base due to a sacrifice bunt from Steven Kwan. Although they ended the game with one hit, somehow, the Guardians were able to load the bases that inning.<\/p>\n After Kayfus ended up at third, he would be thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice hit into the infield from the bat of Chase DeLauter. DeLauter would occupy first until Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez drew a walk, pushing him to second, before Kyle Manzardo drew one as well, loading the bases.<\/p>\n With two outs and the bases loaded, Cleveland turned to Bo Naylor, who went through a six-pitch at-bat before popping out to shallow center field. It was just the second time in 2026 that the Guardians had bodies at each bag.<\/p>\n The remaining three innings were spotlighted by a walk and a hit by pitch, with neither helping get the Guardians any sort of momentum.<\/p>\n Cleveland finished with six walks drawn, with Brayan Rocchio accounting for two of them. His season OBP is up to .400 with five walks to three strikeouts. He’s also been relatively consistent from the plate, hitting .217 with one double. <\/p>\n Of the Guardians’ bats, the one that struggled the most was Kyle Manzardo’s. He did finish the game with a walk drawn, but went 0-for-3 from the plate with one strikeout. Unfortunately, his early-season struggles have his batting average down to .067 with only two hits in 30 at-bats.<\/a><\/p>\n