The first-place Cleveland Guardians keep on keeping on.
With a 3-1 victory against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park last night, the Guardians expanded their lead in the American League Central.
They now lead the Minnesota Twins by three games and the Chicago White Sox by four in the division.
The offense got some timely hits and the bullpen, which has been fantastic for the Guardians of late, buckled down again and gave them 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball.
In fact, as shown on the Bally Sports Cleveland postgame show, the Guardians bullpen has yet to allow a run in their last 16.2 innings.
And as part of their amazing August, @CleGuardians relievers haven't allowed a run in their last 16.2 innings. #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/Y3eGfDGM3b
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) August 24, 2022
Guarding The Lead
The bullpen may end up being the absolute strength of this team.
Nick Sandlin earned the win for Cleveland, while James Karinchak earned his third hold of the season and Trevor Stephan earned his 12th.
All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase shut the door once again, earning his 29th save of the season.
The bullpen was put to the test after a short outing by Aaron Civale, who allowed just one run, but didn’t make it through five innings.
And yet again, the bullpen passed their test with flying colors.
In addition to their recent stretch of scoreless innings, August as a whole has been a tremendous month for Guardians relievers.
They have posted a record of 6-1 with a 2.11 ERA in 64 innings of work, while having walked just 12 batters and struck out 78.
The bullpen is what is carrying this Guardians team right now as they look to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the AL Central, particularly the teams that are chasing them.
Cleveland will try to earn a two-game sweep this afternoon when they send right-hander Cal Quantrill to the mound against Blake Snell.
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