It’s been a tale of two teams with the Cleveland Guardians this season.
They’ve had some offensive explosions with average pitching, and great outings from their hurlers with little to no run support.
Unfortunately, they haven’t had both things go their way often in the early stretch of the season.
That was the case again after the six-game road trip.
The Guardians won four of those six games and scored 39 runs in total, ten more than the opposition.
And while it seemed like that trend was going to continue with a 6-0 home win over the Philadelphia Phillies, the bats went ice cold in the final two games of the series.
The Guardians scored a grand total of one run in two games, and they were outscored 10-1.
Nevertheless, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com still liked what he saw from the rotation:
“Statistically, it was a good weekend of Cleveland’s rotation. Gavin Williams, Friday’s starter, Bibee and Ortiz combined to allow two runs in 18 innings for a 1.00 ERA. They struck out 20, walked six and allowed 14 hits,” Hoynes wrote.
As Hoynes pointed out, the Phillies’ starters combined to throw 14 scoreless innings against the Guardians in the last two games.
The Guardians allowed just six hits and struck out 13 times.
Unfortunately, Stephen Vogt’s team couldn’t do much to help Tanner Bibee, who threw seven innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts on Saturday before the Phillies rallied with a six-run eighth inning.
The same happened to Luis L. Ortiz, who allowed just one run in six innings with nine strikeouts on Sunday night.
All in all, the team still showed encouraging signs, as the rotation had struggled earlier in the season.
Hopefully, they will find some consistency and get solid production from both pitching and offense at the same time.
NEXT: Stat Shows How Dominant Guardians Have Been This Season
