Guardians rally for 5-3 win after spotting Angels early 2-0 lead

Updated: Mar. 06, 2026, 6:37 p.m.|Published: Mar. 06, 2026, 6:09 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Petey Halpin and Chase DeLauter drove in runs Friday in the fifth inning as the Guardians broke a 2-2 tie in a 5-3 Cactus League win over the Angels at Goodyear Ballpark.

Daniel Schneemann opened the fifth with a single. He stole second and scored on Halpin’s double to right for a 3-2 lead. Steven Kwan followed with a walk and DeLauter singled to left to score Halpin for a 4-2 lead.

DeLauter, who started in right field and batted second, was in the lineup for the first time since March 1. He’d been sidelined with a sore hamstring.

The Guardians stretched the lead to 5-2 in the sixth on a single by Gabriel Arias. Cleveland’s shortstop, who missed five games with a sore lower back, was 2 for 2 with two RBI.

Gavin Williams, in his third start of the season, allowed two runs, one earned, in 3 2/3 innings for Cleveland. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first on doubles by Adam Frazier and Jeimer Candelario. Errors by the Guardians escorted Candelario home. He took third on an errant throw by DeLauter, and scored on another errant throw by catcher David Fry.

Cleveland came right back to tie the score with two runs in the second against lefty Reid Detmers. Schneemann’s fielder’s choice scored Fry, and Arias scored Schneemann with the tying run on a sun-ball double to right field.

Connor Brogdon earned the win with a scoreless fifth, while Will Dion pitched the ninth for the save.

The Guardians, 7-8 in Cactus League play, finished with eight hits. Schneemann and Arias were the only Guardians with two hits in the game. Schneemann is hitting .368 (7 for 19) and Arias is hitting .333 (4 for 12) this spring.

Next

Right-hander Slade Cecconi (0-1, 3.86) will make his third start of the spring when the Guardians play the Padres on Saturday at Goodyear Ballpark. Game time is 3:05 p.m. Guardians TV/WTAM 1100 will simulcast the game.

<

Guardians News and Notes: Stuart Fairchild Hit a Grand Slam off a Retiree

https://www.mlb.com/video/stuart-fairch ... st-popular

by Quincy Wheeler

Mar 7, 2026, 8:28 AM CST

Well, Stuart Fairchild had quite a night for Taiwan.

He went 2 for 2 with 2 walks and a grand slam. Czechia pitching isn’t great as he hit his grand slam off a 32 year-old who retired from Triple-A. But, still, props to Fairchild and Taiwan who shutout Czechia 14-0.

The USA team destroyed Brazil and the Domincan team demolished Nicaragua as WBC action continued.

The Guardians also beat the Angels yesterday in Cactus League action. Chase DeLauter returned to right field and had a hit, Petey Halpin and Kahlil Watson looked good in a tough outfield situation for defense and Halpin had a hit. Gavin Williams threw four solid innings, Connor Brogdon and Codi Heuer looked good in a scoreless frame each. Gabriel Arias saw his shadow (had a couple hits) in his return, so we will have six more weeks of him at shortstop, I’m sure.

<

Guardians outfielder swings his way into WBC lore with majestic grand slam

How grand it is.

By Henry Palattella

5 hours ago

https://twitter.com/i/status/2030126270684504514

Stuart Fairchild helped his case to make Guardians roster with WBC grand slam

That’s one way for Stuart Fairchild to make an impression.

While Fairchild’s on the Guardians’ roster bubble this spring, he still elected to play for Chinese Taipei in the World Baseball Classic instead of spending the entire spring in camp with the Guardians.

His decision looks a little better after Friday, as Fairchild slugged a 389 foot grand slam in Chinese Taipei’s 14-0 win over Czechia in Pool Play.

Although things hadn’t gone great for Fairchild and his Chinese Taipei teammates in their first two games of the WBC, Fairchild erased most of that with his second inning homer that extended his country’s lead to 6-0.

His homer came on a changeup that Czechia starter Jan Novak left over the plate. Although Fairchild’s clearly been seeing the ball well (as evidenced by the number of near home runs he hit during the first two games of the tournament), he finally had an at-bat where he put it all together.

Even though Fairchild’s blast didn’t come against MLB competition, it still obviously helps his case to make the Guardians' big league roster.

He’s currently in camp as a non-roster invitee, so the Guardians would need to add him to both their 40-man and 26-man rosters should they choose to add him to their lineup.

Luckily for Fairchild, almost all of the Guardians’ main options in the outfield hit left-handed, so he’d provide some much-needed balance to Cleveland’s outfield picture.

Johnathan Rodríguez is currently the only right-handed hitting outfielder on Cleveland’s roster, but he’s hit just .176 across his MLB career and has gone just 3-for-14 this spring.

No one’s expecting Fairchild to hit a grand slam every time he takes the plate (he’s never hit a grand slam in his MLB career), but he has a solid skillset that could make him a successful outfielder for the Guardians.

<