After hitting their season’s low point a week ago, the Cleveland Guardians have reversed course in impressive fashion.
With one game remaining before the All-Star break, the Guardians now find themselves trending upward. They’ll look to maintain their momentum in the finale of a four-game series against the host Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Cleveland has won five of six following a 10-game losing streak, including a 6-2 victory on Saturday.
After the teams split a doubleheader on Friday, Kyle Manzardo homered and Tanner Bibee earned his first victory since May 22 to help the Guardians secure the win on Saturday.
Cleveland has scored four or more runs in six straight games after batting .166 as a team during its season-long 10-game skid.
“We could be the hottest team in baseball going into the break,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said. “That’s what we expect. (We want) to go get a win tomorrow, win the series, and get hot going into the second half.”
Cleveland will send left-hander Joey Cantillo (1-0, 3.79 ERA) to the mound for the series finale. He allowed three runs with a season-high seven strikeouts over four-plus innings in a no-decision against the host Houston Astros last Tuesday.
Cantillo, 25, has given up a total of three runs across 7 1/3 innings in two outings since moving into the starting rotation on July 3.
White Sox infielder Miguel Vargas has struck out in all three of his at-bats against Cantillo, who is 1-0 with 1.00 ERA in nine innings over two career games (one start) versus the White Sox.
Chicago will counter with right-hander Aaron Civale (1-6, 5.17 ERA this season with Brewers and White Sox), who gave up five runs over four innings in a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays last Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Civale has gone 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA across 25 innings in five starts since being acquired from Milwaukee on June 13. He also has 14 strikeouts against 13 walks during that stretch.
“He’s a professional,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “He’s got things he’s got to work on, just continue to grind away and search for the best version of him.”
Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana has one hit in 13 at-bats against Civale, who is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings over two career starts versus Cleveland.
Chicago has lost five of its last seven games and was held hitless after the fourth inning on Saturday.
“Credit to their pitchers,” White Sox catcher Kyle Teel said. “They did a good job, but overall we need to do better as a team. And the beautiful thing about baseball is we have a game tomorrow.”
The Guardians have won nine of their last 10 games against the White Sox, who fell to 32-64 with Saturday’s loss.
Cleveland relievers Erik Sabrowski, Cade Smith and Matt Festa combined for 3 1/3 perfect innings on Saturday. Sabrowski struck out all four batters he faced.
“He always has really good metrics on his fastball, but that’s the best we’ve seen his command with it,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “To face four hitters and punch all four out, it’s very impressive — especially since there were a couple really good right-handed hitters in there.”
–Field Level Media
