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Guardians can’t overcome Ben Lively’s early ferocity in 4-3 loss to Astros

Guardians can’t overcome Ben Lively’s early ferocity in 4-3 loss to Astros

CLEVELAND, Ohio – It was a pitching duel of opposites.

Houston sent 41-year-old Just Verlander to the mound in his 57th career start against Cleveland. The Guardians sent 32-year-old Ben Lively to the middle of the diamond to make his first start against the Astros.

Verlander and Lively were gone when the Astros’ 4-3 victory over the Guardians became official on a wet Saturday night at Progressive Field, but they left their mark on the game.

Lively’s early wildness and a critical error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio put the Guardians in a hole. Verlander (5-6, 5.48) was burned by Jose Ramirez’s two-run home run in the first game – Ramirez needed another to make it 40-40 in the final game of the season – but otherwise delivered six solid innings the victory. He is 24-24 against Cleveland in his career, but as an Astro, including the postseason, he is 4-0.

Speaking of the postseason, these two teams could see each other soon. The Guardians have home-field advantage in the American League Division Series, which begins Oct. 5. If the Astros pass their wild-card series, they could return to Cleveland for the best-of-five series.

The Astros have won eight of the last 10 regular season games against the Guards.

The Guardians had a chance to at least tie the game when Ramirez led off the bottom of the eighth with a double after a 10-pitch hit against Ryan Pressly. Josh Naylor moved him to third on a ground out, but Lane Thomas, with Ramirez running on contact, recovered to Pressly and Ramirez got caught in a rundown.

Lively (13-10, 3.81) was wild in the first two innings in his last regular-season start, which hurt the Guardians.

He struck out seven Astros in the first inning and eight in the second. The Guards were lucky that they were only two runs behind at 4-2.

Zach Dezenzo’s two-out bloop single to left gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the first. Dezenzo, a Canton native who played at Ohio State, went 2 for 5 with a home run in Friday’s 5-2 win over the Guardians.

Kyle Tucker and Victor Caranti topped Lively with consecutive one-out singles in the first. Lively pulled away from Jon Singleton but couldn’t get past Dezenzo.

The Guardians had an immediate answer when Will Brennan, who took over while Steven Kwan had the night off, opened the game with a double off Verlander. Ramirez gave Cleveland the lead with one out with a two-run home run to the right field pitches.

It was Ramirez’s 39th home run, narrowly making him Cleveland’s first 40-40 man and only the seventh 40-40 player in baseball history.

However, Lively couldn’t find the strike zone. A two-run throwing error by Rocchio added to his distress.

Jake Myers started the second with a single and Lively complicated matters by hitting No. 9 hitter Grae Kessinger. Lively retired the next two batters but issued consecutive walks to Carantini and Singleton to force the game-winning run.

Dezenzo sent a routine rebound to Rocchio for the third period, but he threw wildly to first as Kessinger and Carantini scored for a 4-2 lead. It was Rocchio’s twelfth mistake this season.

The Guardians got one of the runs back in the third. Brennan scored his second straight double against Verlander. He went to third on a ground out by Kyle Manzardo and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ramirez. The sac fly gave him 118 RBI for the season.

Ultimately, Lively made it through the third and fourth innings without incident, but by the end of the fourth inning he had 92 pitches and the bullpen had to be called out.

In four innings, Lively allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits and four walks. He crossed out four.

Verlander struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Next: The Guardians are expected to start with an opener on Sunday, followed by RHP Gavin Williams (3-10, 4.86). The Astros are expected to start RHP Ryan Gusto. This year he was a pitcher for Class AAA Sugar Land. Game time is 3:10 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS, WARF and Guardians radio station will broadcast the game.