The Cleveland Guardians needed to pull off another miracle.
They put themselves in a tough spot after consecutive losses, and their late-season heroics were in serious jeopardy.
That’s why they had to do what they do best to secure a win.
As pointed out by Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, Stephen Vogt’s team turned to its red-hot pitching to get the job done:
“Lost in the victory is the secret formula for Guards Ball. Pitching. They went back to having a starter allow only two runs. Joey Cantillo did that in 5 2/3 innings. That was the 20th time in the last 22 games a Cleveland starter held the opposition to two or fewer runs. The bullpen of Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski and Cade Smith held Texas scoreless for 3 1/3 innings, striking out five. In the month of September where the Guardians have a 19-6 record, their 2.36 ERA is the best in the majors. So let’s not forget the pitching,” Pluto wrote.
The Guardians have rallied behind their pitching for the past month or so.
The starters have been lights out and given them quality starts more often than not, and the bullpen has been able to keep the ball rolling and take care of business down the stretch.
The Guardians would have to rely on some late-game heroics to end their Hollywood-like story, and it took a walk-off hit-by-pitch to take down the already eliminated Texas Rangers.
Now, Stephen Vogt hopes that his strong pitching staff will get them through the finish line.
Logan Allen will take the mound for the regular-season finale.
And even though they’ve already punched their playoff ticket, there are still plenty of reasons to win and play hard on Sunday.
For starters, it would secure the AL Central Division title, something that looked almost impossible after watching this team lose 10 games in a row and fall as many as 15.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers.
On top of that, it will also allow them to have home-field advantage in their first playoff series, which is something that clearly cannot be overlooked.
NEXT: Details Emerge About Guardians' Potential Postseason Matchups
