Foster Griffin Has Honest Admission About Poor Performance

Foster Griffin did not hide from what happened to him Wednesday night against Baltimore. The right-hander walked through the eight-run third inning that ended his outing early, and his answer sounded less like a pitcher searching for excuses and more like someone genuinely trying to process how a clean start unraveled so quickly.

Griffin admitted the whole sequence still did not fully add up to him.

“Looking back, yeah, you think exactly that: It’s just how did that keep happening? You know, I felt like really the only ball that was hit really hard was the Pete Alonso one. Other than that, I felt like I was making my pitches, and you know, the 0-2 hit by pitch hurts as well. Threw it right, kind of right where I wanted, but just got his back foot. So it’s just one of those outings you just kind of look back on, trying to flush, just try and chalk it up to to baseball,” Griffin said.

(Via #Guardians audio) Foster Griffin breaks Down what he saw during Baltimore’s 8 run 3rd inning va Cleveland:

“Looking back, yeah, you think exactly that: It's just how did that keep happening? You know, I felt like really the only ball that was hit really hard was the Pete…

— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) September 10, 2026

What stood out most in Griffin’s breakdown was his own belief that he was not actually getting hit hard. He pointed to Pete Alonso’s single as the only ball in the inning that was truly hit well, insisting everything else felt like pitches placed where he wanted them to go rather than mistakes left over the plate.

Rather than dwelling on it, he described his approach going forward simply as trying to flush the outing and chalk it up to baseball, a mindset that fits a Guardians team that cannot afford to let one rough night linger with the calendar running short.

Griffin has been a reliable piece of Cleveland’s rotation since arriving before the trade deadline, and one difficult inning against a scrappy Orioles lineup does not change that track record. With the Guardians still holding position in both the division and Wild Card races, his next turn through the rotation will matter far more than Wednesday’s line ever will. Based on how he addressed the outing afterward, it sounds like Griffin already understands that better than anyone.