The Cleveland Guardians got a big win to begin their series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday, which put an end to a rough stretch of six losses in seven games that pushed them down to second place in the AL Central. With the Chicago White Sox beating down the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, Cleveland kept pace and will look to do so once again with a scary matchup against a returning Tarik Skubal on Saturday.
It was a great start to the weekend that will ideally start some momentum heading into the right direction, but it wasn’t all great. The Guardians still only scored three runs on Friday, which is becoming a rough and all too familiar trend.
During a recent episode of Bonus Time with Bruce Drennan, the local media legend expressed his concern with the offense. Drennan is worried that this team still can’t score in the clutch and wondered if the Guardians are still overly reliant on the pitching staff to guide them to wins.
“My concern is scoring in the clutch. I’m not concerned about the starting rotation so much. When the bullpen does their job and keeps the Guards in the game, and you have a ducks-on-the-pond situation where you can tie it or win it, and you can’t get that clutch hit,” Drennan said.
The Guardians desperately need a bat to step up.
Bruce says pitching is awesome, but it doesn't matter if you can't score with the bases juiced. #GuardsBall
presented by @FanDuel https://t.co/UCxs9le8gJ pic.twitter.com/djjoYj1d9l
— Bruce Drennan Show (@Bruce_Drennan) June 12, 2026
Cleveland had arguably the worst offense in baseball last year and still sits around the higher end of the bottom third in the league in most categories. There was a stretch in early May around the time Travis Bazzana got called up that the offense started showing real development, but lately there has been a lot of regression from some key bats.
There’s no telling where this team would be without the unexpected consistent production of guys like Brayan Rocchio and Angel Martinez. Chase DeLauter has cooled off, Jose Ramirez hasn’t hit up to his typical level yet, and Steven Kwan and Rhys Hoskins have fallen off a cliff.
Drennan is right. The offense has shown signs of growth, but not enough of them. There are too many nights where no one can get the big hit and the team struggles to get more than two or three runs. If this team is going to be more than another one-and-done playoff team, it is going to need more bats to emerge and start figuring out how to get the big hits.
NEXT: Guardians Player Is Making An All-Star Case Nobody Can Ignore
