Guardians Dink Their Way Past Rays, McClanahan in 5-3 Series-Clinching Win

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's been a rare day when Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan gets beat this season. The Cleveland Guardians sliced through him on Sunday though, one small paper cut at a time.

McClanahan (10-4) gave up a career-high five earned runs on Sunday, the first time in 45 starts over two years that he's been lit up like that. But the Indians did in on Sunday despite hardly ever barreling up a ball against the star left-hander. They dinked and dunked their way to a 5-3 victory, to take the series between the two wild-card contenders.

The seven hits he allowed registered exit velocities of just 49.2, 66.1, 67.1, 79.0, 84.5, 86.9 and 89.5 mph, according to Statcast. Only allowed one batted ball with an exit velocity of over 95-plus mph (103.6).

The Indians scored three times in the second inning to take an early 3-0 lead, and they did it with a walk, a hit batter and two dink hits that barely eluded Rays defenders. A single by Jose Ramirez drove in two runs. McClananan, who was making his 20th start of the season, had only allowed three runs IN A GAME twice all season, let alone in one inning.

But what was most frustrating was that the Rays were able to tie the game anyway, scoring twice in the second and again in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3. It looked like McClanahan had gotten a reprieve, but then the fifth inning got away from him too. 

A dink single by Franmir Reyes and two walks loaded the bases, and that was it for McClanahan, who had allowed seven hits with average exit velocities in the mid-70s. Ryan Thompson came in for him — McClanahan had thrown 96 pitches to get his 13 outs — but then catcher Austin Hedges blooped a single into center field to score two runs, giving the Indians a 5-3 lead.

Those runs were charged to McClanahan, too. His five earned runs jumped his earned run average to 2.07 from 1.76. It's the first time his ERA has been over 2.00 since June 3.

"His stuff wasn't as crisp as we've seen all season long and they certainly found holes,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I thought everything was just a tick down. To be honest, I was contemplating taking him out in the third inning, but we scored some runs and got back in the game.''