Guardians held to one hit against Cardinals, suffer second straight shutout loss

CLEVELAND — The matchup of right-handed starters looked good on paper. Unfortunately for the Guardians, it turned into a complete mismatch in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals, who completed a dominant 5-0 victory over Cleveland before a sold-out Progressive Field on Friday. Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray was masterful with a one-hit shutout. The 35-year-old veteran improved to 8-2 and struck out a season-high 11 batters, including six in a row at one point. Gray and Guardians manager Stephen Vogt were All-Star teammates in Oakland in 2015 and the two remain very close, except when they are facing each other. "I'm excited to watch him pitch," Vogt said before the game. "He's been really good in this league for a long time." Guardians right-hander Luis Ortiz (4-9) has been a hard-luck pitcher this season at Progressive Field. He has received just 1.64 runs of support per nine innings at home, the third-lowest mark in the majors, coming into Friday's game. He dropped to 1-5 at Progressive Field this season. The 26-year-old from the Dominican Republic can't blame the defeat on a lack of run support Friday. The hard thrower came unhinged in the third inning when he allowed two home runs, including a two-out, two-run shot by Cardinals right fielder Alec Burleson. Catcher Pedro Pages led off the inning with a 381-foot blast onto the left-field porch for his sixth home run of the season. Burleson's 10th homer traveled an estimated 359 feet into the right-field stands. Suddenly, it was 3-0, a steep hill to climb for the Guardians' inept offensive attack. Three players in the lineup entered the day hitting below .174. That's not a good thing when facing a pitcher the caliber of Gray (8-2). Cleveland played without All-Star Jose Ramirez, who was sidelined with a bruised right wrist. Ortiz pitched seven innings and allowed six hits, four runs and one walk and struck out five batters. Gray was simply mesmerizing. He recorded his 20th career double-digit strikeout game, including three this season. It was his 20th career start against Cleveland, the most against any opponent in his career. Gray improved to 7-5 in his career against the Guardians. Cleveland unable to muster any kind of attack against Gray, who only allowed a two-out single to Nolan Jones' in the fifth inning. He pitched his first complete game of the season and threw 88 pitches. Cleveland has been shut out in each of the last two games and hasn't scored in 18 consecutive innings. The Cardinals added insurance runs in the sixth and eighth innings to blow the game wide open. The game was over in 2 hours, 11 minutes. Contact Bob Finnan at rfinnan30@gmail.com.