PHOENIX -- On a night the Guardians squandered two leads and watched a Diamondbacks speedster make team history, even a José Ramírez home run couldn’t help in the desert.
Cleveland spent much of the night watching Corbin Carroll run the bases in its 6-5 loss on Tuesday night at Chase Field. Carroll’s two triples gave him a franchise single-season best mark of 16.
Combined with a Royals win over the Rangers, the Guardians slipped to third place in the AL Central and remained three games out of a Wild Card playoff spot heading into the series finale Wednesday afternoon.
“There’s angles; there’s different surfaces. This is a tough outfield,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of chasing down two Carroll triples as starting pitcher Tanner Bibee allowed four extra-base hits in 5 2/3 innings. “That’s the beauty of our game, because every field is unique in its own way. Our guys played both of those perfectly.”
Cleveland came into the contest having won Bibee’s last seven starts going back to July 7.
“I thought his stuff was really, really good,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “You could tell that [his stuff] was moving really well. That’s a good lineup, and I thought they took some good swings on some executed pitches.”
Bibee was on point early, throwing 17 of 25 pitches for strikes over a scoreless first two innings. Particularly biting was his cutter, seven of the first eight of which went for a strike, a foul ball, or an out.
But that cutter is just what Arizona’s Jake McCarthy turned on in the bottom of the third. He belted a 2-1 pitch to left field for his third home run of the season to open the scoring.
The Guardians got through to D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez an inning later.
Carlos Santana drilled an RBI single to center field to bring home Ramírez, who led off the top of the fourth with a walk. Two batters later, Nolan Jones singled to right to bring Santana around to stake the Guardians to a 2-1 lead.
After Arizona tied things up -- Corbin scored on a grounder after his first triple -- the Guardians answered with a familiar punisher of the D-backs and Rodriguez.
Ramírez entered the game with an RBI in eight of his nine games against Arizona dating back to 2022, and he struck again. With two outs in the fifth inning, he crushed an 0-2 changeup to left-center field for his 26th homer of the season to give the Guardians a 4-2 lead.
Four of his eight career hits against Rodriguez have gone for homers.
After Arizona tied things up -- Corbin scored on a grounder after his first triple -- the Guardians answered with a familiar punisher of the D-backs and Rodríguez.
Ramírez entered the game with an RBI in eight of his nine games against Arizona dating back to 2022, and he struck again. With two outs in the fifth inning, he crushed an 0-2 changeup to left-center field for his 26th homer of the season to give the Guardians a 4-2 lead.
Four of his eight career hits against Rodríguez have gone for homers.
Cleveland had a chance late.
In the top of the eighth, Gabriel Arias singled to left and Brayan Rocchio walked. Hedges then lined a 1-1 pitch to left for a run-scoring single to bring the Guards to within 6-5.
Steven Kwan drew a walk to load the bases for Angel Martínez, who popped out to shortstop to end the threat.
Kwan, who came into the game hot with a .375 clip in his last six games, went 0-for-4 but continues to be pain-free from nagging wrist issues that impacted his first half of the season.
“Being able to feel my swing again was really good,” Kwan said. “This last week, I just focused on staying behind the ball a little more. I feel like my old self again.”