Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan spent the first three months of his season in an offensive morass, batting a career-low .213 while looking nothing like a two-time All-Star at the plate.
July has been an entirely different story for him.
The Guardians will seek their third straight win over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, when Cleveland right-hander Slade Cecconi (4-6, 4.55 ERA) opposes Bailey Ober (7-3, 4.32) in a matchup of right-handers.
Kwan is tied for the third-highest batting average in the majors this month among players with at least 45 at-bats, hitting .400 with a tremendous 1.065 on-base percentage-plus slugging percentage. He also has moved back atop the lineup from the nine-hole.
“Kwanny is back,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I say it all the time, but when he goes, we go.”
Cleveland has ridden his surge to a 10-6 record in July after wrapping up June virtually tied with the White Sox for first place in the American League Central. The Guardians have won the Central title in each of the last two years.
The only player hitting better than Kwan this month is the Athletics’ Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (.415). Curtis Mead of the Washington Nationals and
Nolan Schanuel of the Los Angeles Angels are tied with Kwan at .400.
“It’s definitely been a journey, not how you draw it up, but I think something good is going to come at the end of the year,” said Kwan, whose season average is up to .239. “I think that’s kind of what having four years under your belt does to you.”
Cleveland has outscored the Twins 18-6 in the first two contests of their four-game series. Guardians starting pitchers Tanner Bibee and Parker Messick have done their part, limiting Minnesota to three earned runs in 11 2/3 innings.
Cecconi, who allowed three runs in a season-low 3 2/3 innings at Minnesota on July 8, is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two career starts against the Twins. He has won only once in an eight-game span since May 29 despite compiling a 3.67 ERA.
“Once you get through that All-Star break, you reflect on what you’ve been doing good and just try to build off of it in the second half,” said Messick, a rookie and an All-Star.
Minnesota came out of the break with a win over the Chicago Cubs, pulling to .500 for the first time since April 22, but has lost four games in a row since. Twins pitchers have given up 32 earned runs in 32 innings during the skid.
“It’s frustrating because three of the last four days, we didn’t pitch very well,” Minnesota manager Derek Shelton said. “We didn’t execute offensively either today. The past four days, it seems like we have not done that.”
Minnesota has been outscored 34-9 in dropping its last four games, all on the road, with Ryan Jeffers’ solo homer and a double-error by the Guardians accounting for both runs in a 5-2 loss Tuesday.
“We just haven’t gotten breaks,” Shelton said. “And it can’t be one run in an inning for us, we need multiple runs to win games right now.”
Ober has made two starts since returning from the injured list with right elbow inflammation, going 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA. He will face Cleveland for the 14th time in his career, carrying a 3-3 record and a 3.06 ERA over 70 2/3 innings in those games.
The Guardians scored one run in five innings against Ober on July 9, but he didn’t figure in the decision of Minnesota’s 5-2 loss.
–Field Level Media
