The Cleveland Guardians enjoyed a positive night on Tuesday.
Not only they took advantage of a bounceback start from right-handed Tanner Bibee to beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1, but the Minnesota Twins also lost to the Tampa Bay Rays.
What does that mean? Well, after being tied for the AL Central at one point last week, the Guardians have shown what they’re made of while both their foes have completely collapsed.
As a result of that situation, Cleveland now holds a 4.5-game lead in the division over the Twins.
“The Guardians have a 4.5 game lead in the AL Central once again. “It’s like last week never happened,” BIG PLAY Cleveland Show tweeted, with analyst’s Jensen Lewis impressions.
The Guardians have a 4.5 game lead in the AL Central once again.
"It's like last week never happened."
presented by @NEFDirect 🛋 pic.twitter.com/WgI1Pa1NAO
— BIGPLAY Cleveland Show (@BIGPLAYCLEshow) September 4, 2024
The Royals, who recently suffered the injury of one of their best hitters in Vinnie Pasquantino, are now 5.5 games back.
On Tuesday, Bibee – who had given up nine runs in his last two outings combined – allowed just a single run in six innings, walking three and fanning six.
The man of the night was, without a doubt, shortstop Brayan Rocchio.
Heavily criticized for his offensive play this season, Rocchio went 1-for-1 with a homer, a walk, two runs scored and four RBI.
Rookie slugger Kyle Manzardo continued his torrid stretch with three more hits, Will Brennan had two and the bullpen tossed three scoreless frames.
The Guardians will now go for the sweep on Wednesday with Ben Lively on the mound.
With an improving rotation, a helpful group of rookies and a couple of hitting stars, not to mention a clever manager and the best and deepest bullpen in the league, the Guardians are back to dominating.
It couldn’t have happened at a better time because they were about to lose their grip on the division.
NEXT: Guardians Rotation Is Slowly Rounding Into Form
