Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt remained optimistic when his team appeared to be fading from playoff contention early last month.
Vogt’s approach is paying dividends for the surging Guardians, who will continue their three-game series against the host Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.
The Guardians improved to 60-55 with a 9-5 win Friday behind Carlos Santana (four RBIs) and rookie C.J. Kayfus, who doubled twice and drove in three runs.
Brooks Baldwin hit a solo homer and Curtis Mead singled in two runs for Chicago, which lost its fifth straight game.
The White Sox hope to slow the Guardians, who have won four straight games and eight of their last nine to move a half-game back of the third and final wild-card spot in the American League.
It has been quite a turnaround for Cleveland, which was 40-48 on July 6.
“We’re playing the baseball we’re capable of over the last month, whatever it is,” Vogt said. “I just think it’s a testament to the work that our guys put in, the work that our coaching staff puts in. We try to be as consistent as possible every single day.”
Cleveland will send left-hander Joey Cantillo (2-2, 4.37 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. He allowed four runs with a season-high nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
Despite the loss, Vogt was encouraged by Cantillo’s outing.
“We’re seeing a lot of good from Joey,” Vogt said. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement and growth, but he’s really figuring out what the right mix is. He’s attacking the zone a lot better. So we’re definitely seeing some growth from Joey, and I’m excited to see how it’s going to continue.”
Andrew Benintendi is 4-for-6 with a home run against Cantillo, who is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA in three career games (two starts) versus the White Sox.
Chicago will counter with right-hander Sean Burke (4-8, 4.23 ERA), who gave up three runs over five-plus innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday as the White Sox lost 8-5.
Burke yielded all three runs in the sixth inning, when he was pulled after allowing the first four batters to reach base.
“I thought it was good up until the sixth, but the third time through the order, they’d seen some pitches from me and changed their approach a little bit,” Burke said. “They were kind of sitting on the slider.”
Burke is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA in three career games (two starts) versus Cleveland.
The White Sox have lost 11 of their last 12 meetings against the Guardians and went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s defeat.
Baldwin has homered in back-to-back games for Chicago, which went 10-4 in the first 14 games after the All-Star break.
After losing a record-setting 121 games last season, White Sox general manager Chris Getz said he believes his team is trending upward.
“We’re not there yet. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Getz said. “We’re going to look for ways to add to this club and find ways to beat our opponent. … We’re certainly not there yet, but we feel like we’re heading in the right direction.”
–Field Level Media
