Slade Cecconi continues superb pitching in Guardians blanking of Athletics

Slade Cecconi tossed seven shutout innings as the Cleveland Guardians blanked the Athletics 3-0 in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif.
Cecconi (3-3) allowed six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Cade Smith and Tim Herrin combined for a scoreless eighth inning before Emmanuel Clase escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to record his 18th save.
The Athletics sandwiched a walk between a pair of singles to load the bases with one out in the ninth. Clase then struck out pinch-hitter Max Muncy on three pitches before Lawrence Butler grounded out.
Steven Kwan had two hits and a run scored for Cleveland, which concluded a nine-game road trip with a 4-5 record.
The Athletics left 10 runners on base and lost to the Guardians for the 12th time in their last 14 meetings. Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom collected two hits apiece.
Cleveland built a 2-0 lead in the second inning against JP Sears (5-7), who fanned leadoff hitter Kyle Manzardo before walking Angel Martinez.
After stealing second base, Martinez scored on Gabriel Arias’ single. Nolan Jones followed with an RBI double to right field.
The Guardians tacked on another run in the fifth inning. With two runners on and two outs, Kwan evaded the tag at home to score from second on David Fry’s single.
Sears yielded three runs on seven hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out five.
The Athletics struggled to create much traffic on the basepaths against Cecconi, who has allowed two runs or less in each of his last four starts.
Cecconi avoided trouble in the second inning with two runners on and one out when Willie MacIver and Denzel Clarke were each retired on a fielder’s choice.
Smith entered in the eighth inning and recorded two quick outs before walking Jacob Wilson.
After Brent Rooker followed with a single, Tim Herrin replaced Smith and struck out Nick Kurtz, who had homered three times over his previous four games.
Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins made his major league debut and tossed three scoreless innings of relief.