The Cleveland Guardians wrapped up a three-game set with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday with a 5-2 win to officially take the series as they get set to hit the road for a highly appetizing west coast road trip against the lowly Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels. Behind a dominant performance from Gavin Williams and the bullpen as well as some timely hitting to build an early lead, the Guardians were able to build a little momentum for the first time in weeks.
Cleveland has struggled mightily since the break and hasn’t been able to generate consistent offense despite newcomers Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe providing a nice boost. Nothing has been clicking, but Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com believes Thursday’s win was the type of vintage victory that this team is designed to produce.
Hoynes wrote recently that he liked what he saw from the team in the Giants series, which was the beginning of a crucial 12-game stretch against sub-.500 teams. With the Rockies and Angels up next, followed by the last-place Kansas City Royals, Hoynes wants to see the Guardians go at least 8-4 over that stretch to potentially make up some ground in the AL Central race.
“You know, ideally you’d like to do better than that, but I’d settle for 8-4. This division is so fluid, the AL Central, that you can change overnight. So you go 8-4 in this stretch, you’ve got to remember, it’s going to be on the road with the Rockies and Angels. It’s tough to win on the road. But 8-4 I think would get them back in the race at least,” Hoynes wrote.
With Adell and Lowe providing some much-needed thump, Angel Genao looking great since being promoted, Steven Kwan remaining white hot, and Jose Ramirez starting to show signs of waking up, the pieces are in place for this offense to go on a nice run. A little trip to the Mile High City could be just what the doctor ordered to officially heat up this lineup.
Cleveland is still 4.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox in the division after they lost on Thursday. The time for the Guardians to pounce is now since this easy stretch of their schedule overlaps with a tough few weeks of Chicago’s schedule.
The White Sox have the suddenly-hot New York Mets up next before facing the Texas Rangers, followed by six games against the Minnesota Twins over the next ten games, which could go a long way toward deciding the Central. The White Sox’s schedule doesn’t truly ease up until the final week of the season, so it’s time for the Guardians to make a move.
Cleveland got hot down the stretch last year to erase a much larger deficit in the division than it is facing now. If they can start playing more like they just did against San Francisco, that 4.5-game deficit could shrink rather quickly.
NEXT: Guardians Win Series Behind A Brilliant Gavin Williams
