Nothing was settled in nine innings at Progressive Field. It took a walkoff single in the 10th for Cleveland to claim it.
Kahlil Watson delivered the winning blow, singling to center to score Steven Kwan and give the Guardians a 4-3 victory over CWS on Friday. Watson finished 1-for-2 with 1 RBI. Kwan, who had tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh, scored the winning run after reaching base in the extra frame.
The game turned twice before Watson ended it. CWS took the lead in the fifth when Miguel Vargas homered to left — a 374-foot shot — with Peters and Antonacci also scoring on the play, turning a 1-0 Cleveland lead into a 3-1 CWS advantage. Vargas went 2-for-3 with a walk, 1 home run and 3 RBI on the night, carrying his season totals to 20 home runs and 55 RBI. Cleveland answered in the seventh: Austin Hedges reached on an infield single to shortstop, scoring Hoskins to make it 3-2, and then Kwan singled to left, with Rocchio scoring on a fielding error by left fielder Antonacci to tie the game at 3-3. Travis Bazzana had gone 2-for-5 with 1 RBI, including the third-inning single that scored Arias and gave Cleveland its first lead. Erik Sabrowski worked a scoreless 10th inning — striking out 2 in 1.0 inning of work — to earn the win and improve to 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA.
CWS could not answer in the top of the 10th, leaving the game in Cleveland's hands. The visitors fall to 45-41 and have now lost two straight.
Cleveland improved to 46-42, winners of two in a row, with the walkoff sending the home crowd home satisfied on the eve of the Fourth of July.