Cleveland Guardians ready to 'turn the page' after New York Yankees sweep doubleheader

CLEVELAND — Saturday's doubleheader with the New York Yankees was pretty uneventful from a Guardians perspective.

Guardians batters struggled to get a timely hit and pitchers struggled to throw strikes in key moments.

"It was a rough day for us," manager Stephen Vogt said after the Guardians lost 3-2 and 8-2 to the Yankees at Progressive Field. "Excited to turn the page and get back out there tomorrow. We have a good team. We have a good lineup. I am not concerned whatsoever. It was just a tough day."

Starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Triston McKenzie took the losses as neither was able to pitch five innings for the Guardians (9-5), who entered the day atop the AL Central standings and finished the day second behind the Kansas City Royals (10-5).

The Yankees are certainly no slouch with a major league-best 12-3 record.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera hit a two-run home run off Guardians reliever Nick Sandlin in the sixth inning of the opener and right fielder Juan Soto smacked a three-run home run off McKenzie in fourth inning of the nightcap.

Carrasco struck out two and allowed five hits, five walks and one earned run in 4⅔ innings in the opener. McKenzie struck out one and allowed four hits, six walks and five earned runs in four innings in the second game.

"He struggled," Vogt said of McKenzie. "Struggled with his command. Big misses, which was really uncharacteristic of him. He just got himself into bad counts and wasn't able to put hitters away and they took advantage."

McKenzie is still trying to get his velocity up and his mechanics in order after missing most of last season with injuries.

"He will flash 92s up there quite often," Vogt said. "I think for him it is just finding the consistency in his delivery, finding the consistency in his release point. It is not necessarily every pitch, it's the big misses, and where is that coming from? Obviously, Carl [Willis] and the pitching team are working very closely with him everyday, and trying to find Triston that rhythm and getting back to being himself.

"... We do see some sharp curveballs, we see some sharp sliders and we see some good life on the fastball. It is just getting that consistency back I think will lead to more punchouts."

Carrasco is 0-1 in three starts with a 3.55 ERA, 11 strikeouts and nine walks over 12⅔ innings. He has allowed five earned runs and 12 hits.

McKenzie is 1-2 in three starts with a 6.23 ERA, five strikeouts and 12 walks over 13 innings. He has allowed nine earned runs and 11 hits.

"I felt pretty good on the mound," McKenzie said. "I also felt like I didn't command the [strike] zone early. I feel like I wasn't getting ahead of a lot of guys, but that has been the case for the past few starts. Just trying to figure out where to move from here. All in all, I felt good.

"... I feel like I have been scuffling my first few starts, so just trying to figure out how I can smooth some of that out, make some of the long innings a little shorter and make some of the long at bats a little shorter, get some quick outs and get the guys involved in the game."

Around the bases

Guardians right fielder Estevan Florial and first baseman Josh Naylor each hit a solo home run in the second game of the doubleheader. ... The Guardians have a 12-20 record in 16 doubleheaders since the start of the 2022 season.

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: New York Yankees sweep doubleheader against Cleveland Guardians