Pirates Get Clobbered As Priester & Rodriquez Make Debuts

July 18, 2023 4:37 am

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Naylor had three RBIs with a home run and a double, helping the Cleveland Guardians rout the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0 to end a four-game losing streak. Naylor’s sixth-inning RBI double extended his hitting streak to eight games and gave Cleveland a 5-0 lead. He drove a Yohan Ramirez sinker over the left-field wall in the seventh for a nine-run lead, the last of the Guardians’ trio of two-run homers. Steven Kwan added an RBI single in the eighth and Myles Straw had a run-scoring infield single in the ninth. Cleveland had totaled 10 runs during its four losses. Quinn Priester (0-1), the fourth-ranked prospect in the Pirates’ system, allowed seven runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings in his major league debut . “Just kind of getting the feel,” Priester said. “Feeling that confidence, feeling the game situation and learning. Ultimately I might have failed a little bit tonight, but those failures are gonna push me to get better.  Endy Rodríguez, ranked third, also debuted to catch Priester in a battery often used at Triple-A Indianapolis. He was 0 for 4 and struck out three times.