PITTSBURGH — The Cleveland Guardians are eagerly anticipating Emmanuel Clase’s return to his dominant form of the past few seasons. Unfortunately, Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh highlighted some ongoing struggles for Clase. Despite Cleveland’s eventual 5-4 victory in 10 innings, Clase’s performance in the ninth raised concerns. Relieving with a three-run cushion, Clase surrendered three runs, resulting in his second blown save of 2025, a stark contrast to his stellar output last year where he finished third in the American League Cy Young race.
Clase, who managed over 40 saves for each of the previous three campaigns and boasted an impressive 0.61 ERA in 2024, is facing challenges this season. He’s already given up nine earned runs, surpassing the mere five he allowed last year. Manager Stephen Vogt called upon Clase in the ninth with Cleveland leading 4-1. Even though Clase was on his third consecutive game appearance, he hadn’t extensively exerted his arm—tossing only 15 pitches over Friday and Saturday combined.
However, things quickly unraveled: after issuing a walk and allowing two doubles, the Pirates closed the gap to 4-3. Ke’Bryan Hayes then hit an RBI single to tie the game, although Clase managed to escape the inning with a double play. Manager Vogt commented to MLB.com about the outing, noting how the opposing hitters seemed to connect too well with Clase’s pitches: “I haven’t watched the replays, but any time they’re finding barrels, it’s just in the middle… The walk, kind of bad counts. But the ball is just in the middle of the plate right now.” This marked the first instance of Clase allowing three earned runs in a game since an August 2023 matchup with Tampa Bay.
Cleveland managed to regain the lead in the top of the 10th, placing their faith in reliever Joey Cantillo, who made the most of the opportunity by recording a scoreless inning, marking his first career save at any professional level. Meanwhile, Clase’s current stats reveal he has a 7.84 ERA in 2025, a worrying turn of events for a closer with 162 major league saves who once provided unyielding reliability. The Guardians hope this is merely a temporary setback as they look to maintain stability in their bullpen.