The Cleveland Guardians won their weekend series against the Minnesota Twins. They lost the previous one in Baltimore, so they went 3-3 on their road trip.
That seems to have been the theme for Cleveland in the entire year. They play like a .500 team, and their 76-74 record absolutely reflects that.
A specific unit has been holding them back the entire season, and you don’t have to be a Guardians’ expert to identify the fact that we’re talking about the offense. However, the bats have been fairly productive in the second half, after the trade deadline, and this month.
What is keeping the Guardians from breaking out and stringing together some wins? Well, in this recent road trip at least, it’s the starting pitching, as the folks at Cleveland.com correctly point out.
“The Guardians went 3-3 on this six-game trip through Baltimore and Minneapolis. All season the offense has stopped the Guards from shaking their .500 persona. But on this trip, it was the starting rotation that held them back. The starters were 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA in the first five games of the trip. Offensively, the Guardians hit .300 (17 for 53) with runners in scoring position on the trip. Overall, they hit .265 (54 for 211) on the trip,” Paul Hoynes wrote.
As you can see, the offense was more than good enough, even coming through in a historically tough situation for the Guardians: with runners in scoring position. The starters, however, were subpar.
Tanner Bibee, Daniel Espino (as an opener), and Parker Messick were all solid in the weekend series vs. the Twins, but Bibee himself, Foster Griffin, and Joey Cantillo were all mediocre in the three-game set vs. the Orioles. Maybe they just had a bad series, but fans would love to see the Guardians’ rotation, which has been praised for its consistency time and again, return to form over a longer period.
The weekend series at Target Field was a solid start, but big games are ahead this week, so the unit had better step up and perform the way we all know they can.
Gavin Williams, Griffin, and Messick will pitch arguably the three most important games of Cleveland’s season from Monday to Wednesday.
NEXT: Nathaniel Lowe Shares Key Message Before Guardians’ Biggest Series
