The losses continue to pile up for the Cleveland Guardians, who dropped their series opener to the San Diego Padres 7-5 on Friday. The loss dropped the Guardians to 8-18 since the All-Star break and a season-low five games below .500.
Gavin Williams had one of his worst starts of the season on Friday, completing just 4.1 innings while surrendering seven hits, four walks, and five earned runs as he earned himself the loss. It was the third consecutive start where he failed to complete six innings and it’s possible that he is starting to wear down just a bit and could be in need of a little bit of rest ahead of the stretch run.
Cleveland has relied heavily on its ace, but luckily, some reinforcements are here. GuardsInsider announced on Friday that Ben Lively has officially been activated as he has completed his recovery from Tommy John surgery.
“The Cleveland Guardians Player Development System has announced the following moves for today: Activate Ben Lively off of the 60-Day IL in COL. Place Ryan Webb on the Development List in COL,” said GuardsInsider.
The Cleveland Guardians Player Development System has announced the following moves for today:
Activate Ben Lively off of the 60-Day IL in COL.
Place Ryan Webb on the Development List in COL.
— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) August 14, 2026
Lively last took the mound on May 12th of last season, so it’s a fairly quick recovery for him. He made five rehab starts and went 0-2 with an 11.68 ERA over 12.1 innings, so hopefully for the Guardians he knocked all of that rust off because this team can’t afford for him to be posting numbers anywhere close to that in his return to the big leagues.
The 34-year-old righty was on the best run of his career prior to getting hurt and posted a 3.68 ERA across 38 starts from 2024-25. He was a vital member of this rotation and can hopefully step back into a similar role with similar production now that he has recovered.
He can serve as a sneaky late-season acquisition and help bolster a rotation that is showing a few signs of wearing down during the dog days of summer. Slade Cecconi lost his spot in the rotation after the Foster Griffin trade and Tanner Bibee and Joey Cantillo have struggled of late. It’s the perfect time for someone like Lively to swoop in and take a few innings off their hands to help turn this ship around.
NEXT: Stephen Vogt Addresses Guardians' Offensive Struggles
