The Cleveland Guardians’ path to the postseason is crystal clear.
Despite back-to-back home losses to the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers, Cleveland’s magic number to clinch at least a wild-card berth was reduced to one when the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat the Houston Astros Friday night.
Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo (5-3, 3.21 ERA) will attempt to push them over the finish line in front of another sellout crowd in Cleveland on Saturday night. Left-hander Jacob Latz (2-0, 2.80) is scheduled to start as an opener for the Rangers.
“The only thing we can do is show up and be ready to keep fighting and get back in the win column,” Guardians designated hitter Kyle Manzardo said, admitting that he is doing “a little bit” of scoreboard watching.
“I wouldn’t say it changes much who we’re playing. We’re just trying to beat whoever is in the dugout across from us, no matter the circumstances.”
Cleveland (86-74) and Detroit are tied atop the American League Central Division, but the Guardians own the tiebreaker. The Astros are one game behind and would lose tiebreakers to both for the third and final wild-card spot.
The Guardians need a combination of two wins, two Detroit losses or one of each to win the Central. That seemed unattainable on July 8 when they were 15 1/2 games behind the Tigers.
“I have full confidence in this team and Joey and everybody on the staff,” Cleveland pitcher Slade Cecconi said of the Saturday game. “Everybody in the lineup, everybody. Full confidence.”
Cantillo, who has not faced Texas, moved into the rotation on July 3 following a month-long demotion to Triple-A Columbus. He is 4-3 with a 2.93 ERA in 12 starts, including 2-0 and 1.16 ERA over four outings in September.
The Hawaiian-born hurler must perform better out of the gate than Parker Messick and Cecconi, who allowed a combined six runs in the opening inning on Thursday (a 4-2 Detroit win) and Friday (a 7-3 Texas win), respectively.
“Obviously, it hurts to lose right now because every game is magnified,” said Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt, whose squad is 18-7 in September. “But we have another one (Saturday) and we still get to control our own destiny.”
The Rangers (81-79) were all smiles after taking the first game of the season-ending series behind a three-run homer from rookie left fielder Alejandro Osuna. Texas scored four times in the first and never looked back as fellow rookie Jack Leiter struck out a career-high tying 10 over seven innings.
Leiter took pride in reaching a pair of season milestones, posting his 10th win and reaching 150 innings in his first full season. Manzardo accounted for his only blemish with a two-run shot.
“I was excited for this game because I knew it would feel like a playoff environment,” Leiter said. “That’s a really good lineup and they ground you down. And they’re really hot right now. It’s a difficult lineup to game plan for, and they kept competing.”
Latz has worked in relief in 25 of his 32 appearances, but four of his starts have occurred since Aug. 27. He pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Sept. 8 in a win over the Milwaukee Brewers and is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in three career games against the Guardians.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy would love to see his lineup give Latz a cushion to work with, as it did Leiter.
“I’ve long said with really good pitchers, that first inning is an important time to get to him, and our guys did it (against Cecconi),” Bochy said. “We know how good he’s been. Just give our guys credit for having good at-bats.”
–Field Level Media
