Slade Cecconi pitches well, but Guardians' skid reaches eight games after 2-1 loss to Tigers

CLEVELAND — Right-hander Slade Cecconi pitched well enough to win the series opener against first-place Detroit at Progressive Field on Friday night. Thanks to another lackluster effort from the Guardians' offense, he didn't. Cecconi allowed home runs in the third and fourth innings and that was all it took for Cleveland to drop a 2-1 decision and suffer its season-high eighth straight loss. The Guardians fell six games under .500 at 40-46, posting their worst record this late in the season since 2012. The loss came in front of a season-high sellout crowd of 38,213 fans. Jose Ramirez hit the first homer of the game to open the scoring three batters into the bottom of the first. It snapped a career-long 0-for-21 skid for the third baseman, who scored his 942nd run to move into a tie with Charlie Jamieson for fourth in club history. The Tigers tied it on Wenceel Perez's homer off Cecconi with one out in the third then took the lead with another solo shot off Cecconi from Zach McKinstry to lead off the fourth. Cecconi hadn't lost since June 10 against the Reds, winning two of his last three outings. He has allowed more than three runs only once in 10 starts. Cleveland, which entered the night with four shutout losses in its last seven games, had five hits within the first two innings, but managed only three after. The Guardians loaded the bases on two walks and a two-out single from Nolan Jones, but failed to score when Daniel Schneemann grounded to second on the first pitch off Will Vest. Center fielder Lane Thomas, who has already made two trips to the injured list, left the game to start the top of the sixth with a re-occurrence of plantar fasciitis that sidelined him from May 27-June 9. It's been a miserable season thus far for last year's postseason hero, who entered the night batting .163 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 38 games. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.