The Cleveland Guardians welcomed the San Francisco Giants into town with game one of a three game series. Foster Griffin had a quality start for Cleveland, going a full six innings of one run ball. He gave up five hits and two walks, but struck out six. The sole run was a solo home run given up in the top of the second.
Your browser does not support the video tag.Matt Festa came in with a sizable lead. He threw 1.1 innings of one hit ball, striking out three. Tim Herrin finished the eighth and started the ninth, striking out two. Craig Yoho got some work, closing out the game and trying to get the last two batters of the game. Yoho got the first out, but the next pinch hitter slapped a double along the right field line. Yoho got the strike out, to book it on the Giants.
The offense came alive against the Giants, as they well should. Eight runs scored on twelve hits. José Ramírez went 3-for-5 with two runs. Jo Adell stole the show and went 3-for-4 with a run and six RBI. Angel Genao had a great night too, going 2-for-3 with a double and a single. While he did go 0-for-4, it is worth noting that Travis Bazzana had a hard hit ball, a 103.9 mph line out to center. One can only hope that as José starts heating up again that the rookie second baseman is soon to follow.
Adell’s first run came in the bottom of the first. Steven Kwan drew a lead off walk and José hit a single to left to put two runners on. Adell fouled a ball of his leg then came back in the next pitch to absolutely demolish the baseball. Adell hit a three run home run 111.9 mph and 455 ft into the bleachers.
In the midst of us being so back, for a brief moment, it was so Jover.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/lUDvUJGzAk
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) August 18, 2026
In the bottom of the second, with two outs, the trio at the top of the order gave the Giants pain again. Kwan singled to right and José doubled to left. With both runners in scoring position, Jo Adell singled to center to score Kwan. The center fielder didn’t get the ball in cleanly, allowing José to score too.
Your browser does not support the video tag.Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan lead off the bottom of the fourth with a single and walk. Adell came up to bat again and singled on a grounder to left to score Rocchio. Kwan advanced to third and Adell to second on a fielding error by the left fielder. Angel Martínez grounded out for the second out of the inning, but it allowed Kwan to score from third. In the bottom of the seventh, Angel Martínez hit a double to center followed by a single by Rhys Hoskins. Angel Genao drew a walk to load them up with no outs. It was looking like the Guardians curse was going to rear its ugly head again, but an untimely error by the first baseman allowed Patrick Bailey to reach on a forceout that would have been an inning ending double play. With the final out not recorded at first, Angel Martínez scored the final run of the night.
The two teams will face off again tomorrow night at 6:40PM EDT with Parker Messick taking the mound for Cleveland. The Giants, at the time of writing, do not have a starting pitcher named. Everything is pointing to Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson making his major league debut against his former organization. Tugboat was part of the trade with San Francisco for Patrick Bailey and reached Double-A Akron before being traded.