CLEVELAND, Ohio — Luis Ortiz struggled with his command again early, walking a pair and allowing four San Diego runs in the first inning before settling in to retire six of the final seven batters he faced Saturday in the Guardians’ 7-2 spring training loss to the Padres at Peoria Sports Complex.
Ortiz, who allowed six runs on six hits against Milwaukee in his Cactus League debut on Feb. 25, bounced back with a strong three innings on Tuesday when he allowed one run and did not walk a batter with two strikeouts against Seattle. But the early-inning command issues popped up again Saturday against the regular starters at the top of San Diego’s lineup.
Ortiz allowed a leadoff single to Luis Arraez and a walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. before loading the bases with a two-out walk to Jake Cronenworth.
A two-run single by Xander Bogaerts and a climbing pitch count forced Ortiz from the mound in favor of depth camp righty Alonzo Richardson. Ortiz would re-enter the game in the second, but not before Richardson uncorked a wild pitch that scored Cronenworth from third and a three-run home run to Gavin Sheets that put the Padres in front, 6-0.
Ortiz, acquired by the Guardians in December from Pittsburgh in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and ticketed immediately for a spot in the starting rotation, has had his ups and downs through three spring starts for Cleveland.
After an Arraez double to open the second, the Dominican righty retired six straight, including four consecutive strikeouts of Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, Cronenworth and Bogaerts.
Tim Herrin, making his third appearance of the spring, worked a scoreless fourth inning. Parker Mushinski and Bradley Hanner each followed with scoreless relief innings.
Brandon Lockridge snapped a streak of 19 straight Padres batters retired by Guardians pitchers when he doubled to right against Guards lefty Andrew Misiaszek in the eighth.
Misiaszek’s throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed Lockridge to score San Diego’s final run.
Cleveland scored twice in the third when Cody Huff and Brayan Rocchio reached on back-to-back singles and Tyler Freeman was hit by a Yu Darvish pitch to load the bases. Kyle Manzardo delivered an RBI single to right and Johnathan Rodriguez added an RBI sacrifice fly that cut San Diego’s lead to four runs.
Rocchio and Manzardo finished with two hits apiece, including a double for Manzardo on a ball that Jason Heyward lost in the sun during the first inning. Rocchio is now batting .450 with a 1.126 OPS while Manzardo is hitting .429. The pair leads all Cleveland batters with nine hits apiece.
Rodriguez, competing for a spot in Cleveland’s outfield, appeared shaken up after slamming his hand into the wall on the Arraez double in the second, but remained in the game.
Next up
Right-hander Gavin Williams (0-0, 2.08) will make his third spring start on Sunday when he takes the mound against the White Sox at Goodyear Ballpark. Chicago will counter with righty Mason Adams (0-0, 3.00), who will also make his third Cactus League appearance. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m. ET. The game will air on WTAM 1100 AM and the Guardians’ Radio Network.