Matz bounces back: Rays 3, Guardians 2
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 27: Steven Matz #32 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Monday, April 27, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Sean Finucane/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images The Rays won a well-pitched, sharp defense nail biter tonight in Cleveland, with Steven Matz (seven innings pitched) and Ryan Vilade (three hits, two RBI) leading the way. If you like quick moving pitching duels, then the first four and a half innings of this game would be your idea of a good time.
The Rays had their work cut out for them, facing Plant City’s own Parker Messnick, a 25-year old lefty who has been phenomenal over his short career. Steven Matz, pitching for the Rays, came off a terrible start against the Reds but tonight he had overcome whatever had caused him to give up four walks and three homers in just three innings (or maybe his problem last time was simply having to face the 21st century iteration of the Big Red machine). He scattered two hits until the fifth inning, when he gave up a two-run homer to Daniel Schneemann (fun fact, his last name translates to “snow man.
”) You know the baseball truism, “it’s not the home runs, it’s the walks before the home runs? ” Tonight that was truly the case. Just before Snow Man’s homer, David Fry had walked on a 10 pitch at bat, with ball four coming after Cleveland challenged a called strike.
The Rays did get one of those runs back in the sixth inning. Yandy Diaz drew a walk, advanced to second on a ground ball and scored on Ryan Vilade’s two out single. This was nice because it cut the Cleveland lead in half, and also led to Messick’s exit from the game.
View Link Matz pitched very well — his final line was seven innings, four hits, two runs and one walk. He only struck out two but being a weak contact guy > being a big K guy, at least sometimes, because a weak contact guy is more likely to get through seven innings. He was also helped by good defense, with really no “what the heck” plays in the field, and a few very nice outs like this one: I'm going to put this in the 'good take' pile when discussing Ben Williamson before the season.