Takeaways From Cleveland Guardians Series Sweep Over Pirates

Emmanuel Clase's Struggles Continue

The Guardians could be forced to make some tough decisions soon as Emmanuel Clase's struggles continue.

Cleveland's closer appeared in all three games against the Pirates. He pitched a total of 1.1 innings through the first two games, allowing one hit and issuing one walk, but thankfully, he did not allow any runs.

The series finale is where a lot went wrong for the reliever.

Clase took the mound in the bottom of the ninth with a three-run lead but allowed two hits and one walk, which allowed Pittsburgh to tie up the game at four runs apiece.

It just never looked like Clase has command of the zone or his pitches.

The flame thrower has never been known as a strikeout pitcher, but he also didn't record a single punch out in his three appearances in Pittsburgh, only further highlighting the concern of how well opposing batters are seeing his pitches right now.

Bo Naylor's Big Series

When looking just at the stats, Bo Naylor's start to the 2025 season may not look all that great. However, he's been hitting the ball hard and putting up solid at-bats, but has nothing to show for it.

That changed in Cleveland's series win over the Pirates.

Bo started the first two games of the series and recorded a three-hit night with a homer in the series opener and added another hit plus a walk in the second game.

Hopefully, this success will motivate Naylor moving forward.

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