Cleveland is doing its best to hold onto the American League Central lead but will face a stiff challenge on Saturday night from Kansas City’s Michael Wacha, who has dominated the Guardians this season.
Wacha will look for his fourth straight victory over the Guardians, who will aim to take the series from the lowly Royals on Saturday but likely will need Tanner Bibee to fare better than he has lately.
Cleveland (84-76) blew a 7-5 lead in the eighth inning Friday, via Carter Jensen’s second two-run homer of the night for Kansas City. However, the Guardians drew six of their 13 walks in the ninth, including three in a row with the bases loaded, and Angel Martinez added a two-run double en route to a 12-9 victory.
Winners in eight of its past nine games, Cleveland already has clinched a wild-card berth and owns a one-game division lead over the Chicago White Sox, who hold the tiebreaker between the teams.
“There’s still work to be done,” Guardians star Steven Kwan, who walked twice and scored two runs Friday, told Guardians.TV. “We got a full 162, then the playoffs; that’s what it takes.”
Though the Guardians are highly confident, and Kansas City (68-92) is mired in a 6-17 stretch, Wacha (9-9, 3.33 ERA) owns a tidy 1.23 ERA while winning all three of his starts vs. Cleveland this season. The only three runs he has allowed over 22 innings in those contests came via a solo homer to Kwan and a two-run shot from David Fry.
On Aug. 28 at Cleveland, Wacha, an All-Star right-hander, yielded four hits and struck out 10, without a walk, over eight innings of the Royals’ 3-0 victory.
“(The Guardians) are a good club, and you have to game plan against that lineup, so I always try to be as prepared as possible when I’m facing off against them,” Wacha said.
Though Wacha ranks among the major league leaders with 20 quality starts, the Royals have lost his last three outings. On Sunday at Pittsburgh, he allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings in his team’s 4-3 defeat.
Meanwhile, Bibee (6-15, 4.35 ERA) has gone 0-2 with a 3.68 ERA in three starts vs. Kansas City in 2026.
While it’s been an overall disappointing season for Bibee, potentially most concerning for Cleveland’s coaching staff is his 8.24 ERA over four September starts. However, the Guardians have 30 runs while winning his last three starts.
In his most recent outing last Saturday against the Athletics, the right-hander yielded six runs and a season-high 12 hits over 4 2/3 innings in his team’s 12-6 win.
Budding Kansas City star Carter Jensen is 1-for-7 with three strikeouts vs. Bibee. However, Jensen hit a pair of two-run homers Friday and has 27 with 81 RBIs during his first full major league season.
Teammate Bobby Witt Jr. is 10-for-27 with three home runs against Bibee.
Meanwhile, Fry is 2-for-3 vs. Wacha this season.
–Field Level Media
