Logan Allen struck in head by line drive, but stays in game as Guardians fall to Diamondbacks in 10 innings

CLEVELAND — It was a dubious start for the Guardians in the series opener against the Diamondbacks at Progressive Field on Monday night. The ending wasn't much better. Left-hander Logan Allen allowed home runs to the first two batters he faced and though Cleveland recovered and overcame three deficits, the Diamondbacks rallied one final time to win 7-6 in 10 innings. With the Guardians down to their last two outs in the ninth, Bo Naylor drove a pitch high off the wall in left field for a triple, then scored the tying run on a deep sacrifice fly from Daniel Schneemann. But after Arizona plated one off closer Emmanuel Clase in the 10th, Cleveland was shut out, losing its third straight after entering the night owning a 4½–game lead in the Central Division. The D-backs literally roughed up Allen early, with Randall Grichuk lining a ball off the pitcher's head in the opening inning after Ketel Marte (first pitch) and Gabriel Moreno hit homers five pitches into the game. Allen was able to deflect the ball a bit with his hand before it hit the side of his head and after a visit from manager Stephen Vogt and trainers, remained in the game. Moreno hit Allen in the ankle with a grounder up the middle in the second before leaving himself with a left groin strain after his infield single. Somehow Allen locked in after the fateful first, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, including the last 10. Arizona rallied multiple times against the Guardians MLB-leading bullpen. Cleveland led 3-2 when right-hander Cade Smith, one of the majors' top relievers, made an uncharacteristically shoddy appearance, allowing two runs in the sixth and retiring only two of the six batters he faced as Arizona forged ahead 4-3. But Cleveland came back again, scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single from Andres Gimenez to go up 5-4.Gimenez had three hits to extend his career-high streak to 10 games, combining with Jose Ramirez for six of his team's 10 hits. Joc Pederson hit a pinch-hit home run off Guardians right-hander Scott Barlow with one out in the eighth inning after left-hander Tim Herrin hit the leadoff batter, as the Diamondbacks took a 6-5 advantage. Cleveland answered Arizona's two runs in the first with two of its own against 2023 All-Star Zac Gallen. They scored five times off the right-hander over seven innings. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.