Somehow, every game recap I write manages to be about an even more abhorrent game than the last. Tonight might take the cake for by far the worst game I have ever had the displeasure of watching. Just an unbelievably awful game start-to-finish. On the bright side, since coming to Minnesota, the Guardians seem to be at least losing a new type of game. Not just your average 1-run loss anymore, we’ve ascended to a new plane of suffering.
Cleveland, OH
Guardians vs. Padres FREE STREAM: How to watch MLB interleague play today, channel, time
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland Guardians will cap a three-game series against the San Diego Padres today – Sunday, July 21 – at Progressive Field. The matchup is available on multiple streaming services for free.
The game will broadcast live on Bally Sports Great Lakes with a first pitch slated for 1:40 p.m. Eastern. You can catch this game for free by utilizing streaming alternatives like FuboTV or DirecTV Stream, which both offer free trials.
The game is also available on ESPN Plus. You can get a subscription to ESPN Plus for $10.99 per month. Another option is to sign up for an annual subscription for $109.99, which saves about 17% off compared to the monthly route.
View the entire Guardians TV schedule for the remainder of the season
Here’s more information on how to watch today’s Guardians-Giants game.
- What: Cleveland Guardians vs. San Diego Padres
- When: Sunday, July 21, 2024
- Time: 1:40 p.m. Eastern
- Where: Progressive Field | Cleveland, OH
- Channels: Bally Sports Great Lakes
- Best streaming options: FuboTV (7-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial) and ESPN Plus
- Cable Channel Finder: AT&T U-Verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, Cox, DirecTv, Dish, Verizon Fios
The Guardians (59-38) are coming off a 7-0 loss against the Padres on Saturday. After exploding in the post All-Star opener on Friday, the offense vanished as they continue to float around 20 games over .500.
Cleveland holds a five-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central and have the second-best record in the Amercian League and the third-best record in Major League Baseball.
The Guardians fell to 31-12 at home. They have won each of their last eight games following a home loss.
For the first time in weeks, Cleveland will enter a game not perched atop the American League. As it stands, they trail the Baltimore Orioles by half a game. There have been concerns that they are running out of gas. The signs are there – ripping through a dominant bullpen, seeming to come up empty in timely hitting spots and an offense vanishing in thin air, at times.
On Saturday, Padres (51-50) pitcher Dylan Cease struck out 10 and San Diego combined for a one-hitter in a dominant interleague display. The Guardians have scored seven runs in their last three games.
The Guardians have lost 11 straight when scoring three or fewer runs. The Padres have lost six straight games when scoring three or fewer runs.
Cleveland will get another shot to right their wobbly ship today.
The Guardians pitching staff boasts a 3.71 overall ERA, which is seventh in the league. The offense, which is struggling recently, is near the top ten in OBP (3.16), OPS (.721) and home runs (109).
Guardians players to watch
All-Star Jose Ramirez comes in with 23 home runs, 79 RBI and 102 hits. He has crossed the plate 71 times and stolen 18 bases. Ramirez is slugging. 513.
All-Star Josh Naylor touts 22 home runs and 70 RBI while crossing the plate 55 times. He has a .804 OPS.
All-Star Steven Kwan is batting .351 with nine home runs, 27 RBI and six steals.
Watch Guardians-Padres for free on DirecTV Stream
Padres players to watch
All-Star Jurickson Profar leads San Diego with 14 home runs, 59 RBI and 103 hits. He touts a .298 batting average.
Jake Cronenworth has tallied 14 home runs, 58 RBI while crossing the plate 50 times. He is slugging .438. on the campaign.
All-Star Luis Arraez has 25 RBI and crossed the plate 50 times. His strikeout rate is just 5.6%.
Watch Guardians-Padres for free on FuboTV
Starting pitchers
Cleveland
Ben Lively will toe the rubber for the Guardians. He is 8-5 with a 3.58 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Lively has tallied 78 strikeouts this season. He has allowed 16 hits and 11 runs in his previous 16.2 innings of work. But he has lasted five or more innings in five straight starts.
San Diego
Michael King will take the mound for Padres. He is 7-6 with a 3.41 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. King has amassed 129 strikeouts. He has a 2.74 ERA and .228 allowed batting average in road games. King has lasted five or more innings in four straight appearances.
Here’s part of a breakdown on the looming trade deadline from Guardians beat writer Paul Hoynes.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — From the outside looking in, MLB’s trade deadline may be one of the most exciting times of the season.
From inside looking out, not so much.
“I think the trade deadline stinks,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “It does. You’re either losing people you love or you’re gaining somebody that you don’t know. And it can be scary for people … it’s very real.
“In theory it sounds good where it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s go get this, let’s go get that.’ But there are a couple people that have to go away when that happens.”
The July 30 trade deadline is 10 days away. The Guardians own the best record in the American League at 59-37, but they need help, especially in the starting rotation. If they can’t add a starter, perhaps they’ll seek help for the offense or the bullpen.
Vogt said the best approach in talking to his players as the deadline approaches is be direct and honest.
“I think it’s having that open dialogue of it’s OK to not be OK with this,” said Vogt. ” It’s OK if this doesn’t feel good for a few days. And we’ve had some moves like that on our team this year that were unpopular. It hurts. It hurts us.”
Vogt said he has confidence in Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff, Matt Forman and the rest of the front office that they will take the team chemistry that has been created into account with any deal that is made.
“They’re very thoughtful and very smart with what they want to do,” said Vogt.
This game had everything!
Do you like lackluster starting pitching? Come on down!
Do you like walks? We’ve got a near unlimited supply at a discounted price!
Do you like using every single reliever in your bullpen but one? Stop on by!
Do you like walkoff losses? We’re running a 2-for-1 special!
Fan of all the above? Then come on down to the Chris Antonetti and co.’s House of Horrors! Unfortunately located on a television set near you.
I’m just going to do everyone a favor and eschew the video evidence that I usually attach to my recaps so that those who either missed the game or wanted to rewatch a pivotal moment could catch up. No one deserves to experience this game once, let alone twice. We’re going to stick to just good old words tonight.
Cecconi was bad today! That’s about all I’m going to say.
The Guardians scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th on back-to-back homers from Rocchio and Hoskins. If you’ve watched more than 3 Guardians games this year, then I’m sure you can guess what happened next.
Speaking of the 4th inning, Cecconi didn’t manage to get out of it! Final line: 3.2IP 6H 3ER 4K 1BB. Gave up the lead right after the Guardians took it.
Holderman had to pitch in the 4th (yes, fourth) inning to clean up his mess. Holderman was fantastic, and is one of four (I’ll get to the other three in a second) players today who are blameless. He cleaned up Cecconi’s garbage, and then pitched a scoreless 5th on 6 pitches.
Herrin pitched a relatively uneventful 6th, but unfortunately left the game when he was hit on the elbow off a comebacker from Royce Lewis. Shawn Armstrong got the last out of the inning.
All was quiet until the 7th, when beautiful, sweet Chase DeLauter had his 2nd of 2 hits and 2nd of 3 appearances on base tonight. He drove in the go-ahead run with that hit. Then, Rocchio squeezed home Kwan on a great surprise bunt, and even managed to get to first off bad defense from the Twins.
Then, Armstrong pitched again! Our beloved Armstrong walked Keaschall and Kreidler, only recording one out in between the walks. Sabrowski came in in relief. In what is maybe the worst relief outing I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes, Sabrowski walked THREE batters. Included in 3 of those walks are TWO RBI walks. TWO (2). Dos. Deux. Zwei. Due. Two. TWO. Two of THREE RBI walks issued by the Guardians tonight. Three. Tres. Trois. Drei. Tre. THREE. I cannot emphasize how abhorrent of an evening Sabrowski had tonight. He threw 14 pitches, 2 of which registered as strikes. None of his other 8 pitches were close. He did not record an out. Him being broken isn’t something this team can overcome so he needs to figure it out.
Hunter Gaddis came in and cleaned up that mess, but then left a mess of his own with runners on 2nd and 3rd two batters into the 8th. Enter Cade Smith who had to clean up that mess. And, as a matter of fact, he did so. Brilliantly, I might add. Came in with Twins on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and did not surrender a run. Not a one.
Anyway, we headed to the 9th tied. The Guardians didn’t score. Shocker. So, because of how empty the bullpen was (Aleman having never pitched in back to back days), Matt Festa pitched. In what was, truly, a “put me out of my misery inning”, Festa almost wiggled out of it but, luckily, the defense behind him had our back for a short night. I’m not even mad at Festa. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Bazzana misplayed a rough hop in the rain and the dirt, and Hoskins failed to scoop what could only be characterized as a play my late 100-year-old grandmother could make. Once again, the Guardians defense gave away easy outs to the Twins. Alan Roden walked it off for the Twins later that inning.
Quick recap of the pitchers used tonight, along with their final lines:
Cecconi: 3.2IP 6H 3ER 4K 1BB
Holderman: 1.1IP 0H 0ER 0K 0BB
Herrin: 0.2IP 0H 0ER 0K 0BB
Armstrong: 0.2IP 0H 2ER 0K 2BB
Sabrowski: 0.0IP 0H 0ER 0K 3BB
Gaddis: 0.2IP 2H 0ER 0K 0BB
Cade: 1.0IP 0H 0ER 2K 1BB
Festa: 0.2IP 3H 1ER 1K 1BB
Cade, DeLauter, Rocchio (1/4, HR, 3 RBI), Hedges (2/4), and Holderman are the only Guardians that I’m not presently pissed at. Everyone else should try meditating, or yoga, or solidcore, or literally anything to prevent this game from ever happening again.
Hope you enjoyed this recap. Goodnight and good riddance to this awful game. See you Friday!
Cleveland, OH
Ohio ICAC Task Force’s “Operation Guardians’ Watch” Results in 25 Individuals Arrested and Charged for Attempting to Meet with an Underage Child to Engage in Sexual Activity
The defendants, ages 20 – 63, engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with undercover officers posing as children. Contact was initiated through popular social media applications. The defendants expressed an interest in engaging in sexual activity with the purported children. Some of the defendants disseminated images of their genitals and others offered to pay for sexual activity during the online conversations.
Initial charges – ranging from third-degree to fifth-degree felonies – were filed against the defendants, which include:
- Compelling Prostitution
- Attempted Unlawful Sexual Conduct With A Minor
- Disseminating Matter Harmful To Juveniles
- Importuning
- Possessing Criminal Tools
The arrested individuals include:
- Brian Ferguson, 38, Cleveland
- Andre Johnson, 37, Maple Heights
- Luca Ascione, 31, Strongsville
- Doug Matheson, 51, Berne, New York
- Timothy Rankin, 37, Elyria
- Glen Martin, 52, Eastlake
- Christopher Docy, 28, North Ridgeville
- Dominick Craig, 37, Logan
- Gerald Rhome, 51, East Cleveland
- Deandre Anderson, 24, Warrensville Heights
- Tai’rez Jackson, 24, Cleveland
- Esteban Baltazar, 63, Springfield, Tennessee
- Oscar Aparicio, 24, Houston, Texas
- Mohammad Mabrouk, 29, Cleveland
- Michael Sullivan, 20, Cleveland
- Brett Musselman, 33, Kent
- David Whitfield, 35, Geneva,
- Delwin Ortiz, 29, Cleveland
- Samuel Kanyaruginga, 35, Cleveland
- Domonic Delvalle, 35, Cleveland
- Clyde Sweeney, 46, Fairlawn
- Jason Kopco, 27, Westlake
- Zachary Brodeur, 37, Flynn, Massachusetts
- Vishwatej Nath, 45, Berea (charges will be filed in Lake County)
- Klajdi Vrapi, 27, Fairview Park
“Operation Guardians’ Watch was coordinated by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ohio ICAC Task Force with the assistance of the Newburgh Heights Police Department, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, Parma Police Department, Sheffield Village Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations Cleveland, U.S Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation Cleveland, Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office, Kirtland Police Department, Lyndhurst Police Department, Amherst Police Department, Warren Police Department, Perrysburg Police Department, Kelleys Island Police Department, Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, and Portage County Sheriff’s Department.
This is the seventh undercover operation the Task Force has led since 2018. The total number of arrests from the Task Force’s operations stands at 160 offenders arrested.
*Ohio ICAC Task Force:
The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is run under the direction of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and funded in part by a grant from the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The task force conducts proactive and reactive investigations dealing with the online exploitation of children and provides training and technical assistance to more than 385 local, state, and federal criminal justice-affiliated agencies throughout the state of Ohio.
Smith leads all of Major League Baseball with 26 saves while posting a 2.90 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 57 strikeouts across 38 appearances. He’ll represent Cleveland in Philadelphia alongside rookie teammates Parker Messick and Travis Bazzana.
For a pitcher leading the majors in saves, he’s received remarkably little national attention.
Stats were taken prior to play on July 7.
Ready When the Opportunity Arrived
As a rookie in 2024, Smith emerged as one of baseball’s best setup men, appearing in 74 games while posting a 1.91 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and 103 strikeouts in 75.1 innings. His 28 holds illustrated exactly how much trust Cleveland already had in him.
He followed that with another outstanding campaign in 2025, throwing 73.2 innings with a 2.93 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, 104 strikeouts, 16 saves, and 19 holds.
When Clase was removed from the closer’s role following his suspension and eventual leave, Smith inherited one of the highest-pressure jobs in baseball. After blowing his first two save chances, he settled in quickly, converting 13 of his final 16 opportunities over August and September while pitching to an ERA in the mid-2.00s.
He carried that momentum into October, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts during Cleveland’s Wild Card Series against Detroit.
So, this season hasn’t been a breakout nearly as much as it has been a continuation.
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