The visiting Cleveland Guardians could use improved fielding Sunday afternoon to help their chances in the rubber match of the three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays took the middle game of the three-game series on Saturday 5-3 with some help from some shaky Guardians defense.

Guardians second baseman Juan Brito let Daulton Varsho’s grounder squirt past him for an RBI single in Toronto’s three-run sixth.

“We should have been out of that inning with maybe one run scoring,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We had a tough inning defensively. It happens.”

Brito has had other defensive lapses but Vogt said he will keep playing him.

“He’ll be out there again Sunday,” Vogt said. “He’s continuing to work. … and, you know, this turf maybe hops a little different, but we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to catch the ball, and we’re going to continue to work defensively. We need to get better. That’s clear, and we’re going to do that.”

Left fielder George Valera also had an adventurous day. He overran Myles Straw’s fifth-inning fly that dropped for a double down the left-field line. Valera’s sliding attempt came up short in the sixth on Andres Gimenez’s two-run, two-out double on the left-field line.

Right-hander Slade Cecconi (0-3, 6.20 ERA) is the scheduled starter Sunday for the Guardians. He has not faced the Blue Jays.

Toronto is slated to start Patrick Corbin (0-0, 3.68). He is 1-1 with a 4.44 ERA in five career starts against Cleveland. Right-hander Dylan Cease was originally named to start Sunday but he was moved to Monday to face the Boston Red Sox to give him an extra day after a 110-pitch outing on April 20.

Steven Kwan was out of the Guardians lineup for the second consecutive game on Saturday. He was given a scheduled day off on Friday to provide a break from the artificial turf at Rogers Centre and was used as a ninth-inning defensive replacement.

Kwan was in the lineup for Saturday but was a late scratch because of a stiff neck.

“This is independent of yesterday,” Vogt said. “We put him in the game Friday and he was fine.”

Kwan said he woke up with a stiff neck.

With Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman removed from the closer’s role, Louis Varland pitched a shaky ninth Saturday to pick up the save. He allowed a run, three hits and a walk before ending the game with two strikeouts.

“Louis has the mentality to do that,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He has great numbers. It’s not going to be perfect and it’s not going to be perfect for anyone, so I hope people have a little bit of sympathy for Hoffman. This is not easy. “

Toronto put Nathan Lukes on the injured list with a strained left hamstring and promoted outfielder Yohendrick Pinango from Triple-A Buffalo.

Lukes suffered the injury running out a first-inning double on Friday and left the game immediately.

“He’s kind of week-to-week,” Schneider said. “It feels like anyone who’s playing good is not allowed to play anymore.”

Pinango was batting .288/.370/.488 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 22 games at Buffalo.

“He hits the ball hard,” Schneider said. “The way the hitting guys talk about it is that he has some bad intentions at the plate. He’s not just trying to touch it.”

–Field Level Media

The Boston Red Sox barely had a chance to enjoy a big day of success on the field before there was an overhaul of the coaching staff.

They’ll go into Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the host Baltimore Orioles with Chad Tracy as interim manager after the firing of Alex Cora was revealed hours after Saturday’s game.

Several of Cora’s staff members were also let go, so the positivity from a 17-1 whipping of the Orioles on Saturday probably has been dashed in the visiting clubhouse. Tracy has been managing Boston’s top affiliate, Triple-A Worcester, since 2022.

Lopsided results have defined the first two games of the series between the Red Sox and Orioles.

The Red Sox lost 10-3 in Friday night’s series opener. Cora noted the encouraging turnaround in comments following Saturday’s result.

“That happened (Friday) night and then we showed up (Saturday),” Cora said. “We did a lot of good things. We still have to be better in certain areas.”

The Red Sox were the second-to-last team in the American League to reach the 10-win mark this season, so perhaps that led to Cora’s dismissal. Boston is 10-17.

“We’ve got a chance to win the series (Sunday). That’s the most important thing,” Cora said prior to the firing being announced. “I keep saying get to .500. … You win series and you keep moving and we have a chance to do that.”

Aside from Cora, at least five other members of the coaching staff won’t be on hand for Sunday’s game.

Meanwhile, Baltimore had a two-game winning streak snapped.

“Any loss is tough,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “I wouldn’t say it’s any more tough. It’s a loss. And then, you move on, we play (Sunday). We have a chance to come out and win the series.”

Boston will send left-hander Connelly Early (1-1, 2.88 ERA) to the mound. He’s coming off his lone loss Tuesday against the New York Yankees, though he has been consistent in multiple ways. He has recorded 24 strikeouts in 25 innings this season while walking multiple batters in each of his five outings.

In Early’s three road assignments, he has given up one run in each game. He’ll be facing the Orioles for the first time.

Baltimore will call on right-hander Kyle Bradish (1-2, 3.96), who also has worked 25 innings this season. He has posted 28 strikeouts and he also has dealt with control snags, issuing three walks in four of his outings.

Bradish dodged trouble in Monday’s no-decision at Kansas City, where he allowed 10 hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings.

Bradish faced Boston last August in his first game back following 2024 surgery, giving up two runs in six innings while taking the loss. Overall, he’s 1-5 with a 6.92 ERA versus the Red Sox.

The Orioles used left-hander Keegan Akin on Saturday for his 2026 debut after he was activated from the injured list. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning before failing to record an out in the ninth and charged with six runs.

Still, Akin’s availability in the big picture could be a positive for Baltimore.

“He’s a guy that we were counting on coming into the season and him going down there in spring training was tough,” Albernaz said. “But the rest of the guys in the bullpen stepped up, so now adding Akin, it definitely raises the floor of our ‘pen.”

Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill made his first game appearance since April 8 by going 1-for-4 and scoring a run in Saturday’s game. He had been on the concussion injury list.

He was thrilled to be back in action, though the result wasn’t favorable.

“It sucks to be on the losing side, but we know what this offense is capable of,” O’Neill said.

–Field Level Media

Looking for a way to get right-handed reliever Griffin Jax back on track, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash is starting him against the team that traded him last summer, the visiting Minnesota Twins, in their series finale on Sunday.

Jax was one of the American League’s top setup relievers when he was obtained on July 31 for starter Taj Bradley. But Jax is off to a slow start this season (1-2, 8.00 ERA), allowing six earned runs in seven innings pitched in April, and has allowed at least one earned run in two of his last three appearances.

It will be the second time Jax has faced his old team. He pitched two shutout innings of relief in a 4-1 win over the Twins in Minneapolis on April 5, allowing two hits and a walk.

Right-hander Jesse Scholtens (1-1, 2.93) will handle the bulk role as the Rays go for the series sweep and their fourth straight win.

Scholtens is 0-3 with a 9.64 ERA in three career appearances (one start) against Minnesota, all of which came in the 2023 season with a Chicago White Sox team that lost 101 games.

Scholtens made the start in a 6-1 loss to Cincinnati on Monday and allowed five runs, including a two-run homer to Sal Stewart in the first inning, on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.

The Twins, who have lost four straight games and eight of their last nine, will start right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (0-3, 5.96), who is 0-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three career starts against the Rays.

Woods Richardson will try and cool down a Tampa Bay offense that has hit five home runs in the first two games of the series, all of which have traveled more than 400 feet.

Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda both belted two home runs in Friday’s 6-2 victory, with one of Caminero’s landing over the batter’s eye in center field and measuring a career-long 450 feet.

Jake Fraley hit a two-run shot 401 feet to right-center off Bailey Ober in the fourth inning to highlight Saturday’s 6-1 victory.

“This lineup is dynamic,” Fraley said. “If we’re having trouble driving the baseball, we’re able to lean on ‘small ball’ a little bit. We’ve got a lot of guys in the lineup that are able to do it well. And then these last two games, we were able to put it in the stands.”

Left-hander Shane McClanahan, who has missed the last two seasons due to Tommy John and left triceps surgeries, picked up his first win at Tropicana Field since 2023, allowing three hits and striking out seven over five shutout innings.

“I was happy for him,” Cash said of the two-time All-Star. “Want to see that continue to build. We all know how special Shane can be in our rotation, and he’s working hard to get to that point. Today was another good step for him.”

The Twins, who have been outscored 25-13 in their last four games, wasted a quality start by Ober, who allowed two runs on three hits over six innings. Reliever Taylor Rogers was roughed up for three runs in the seventh without registering an out. Jonny DeLuca greeted him with a leadoff pinch-hit double into the left field corner and Ben Williamson followed with an RBI triple to the wall in left-center. Rogers then walked Cedric Mullins with a pitch to end his appearance.

Minnesota batters were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Royce Lewis broke up the shutout with two outs in the ninth with a bloop single to center, driving in Luke Keaschall, who had been hit by a pitch.

“We’re not worried about this group,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “It’s the ebbs and flows of baseball.”

Despite the recent rough stretch, the Twins are third in the American League Central, just 2 1/2 games behind the first place Cleveland Guardians.

–Field Level Media