The Cleveland Guardians will look to build on one of their most complete victories of the season when they face the visiting San Diego Padres in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday.
Cleveland snapped the Padres’ six-game winning streak on Saturday behind Joey Cantillo and three relievers, who combined on a one-hitter. The 6-1 win marked the 10,000th victory in Cleveland franchise history.
Jo Adell, Patrick Bailey and Steven Kwan each doubled in a run for Cleveland, which won for just the third time in its past 11 games. Adell, Kwan and Chase DeLauter each had two hits.
“This is what we’ve been talking about, a game like this where we executed offensively and 27 straight outs by the pitching staff without a hit,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Moving runners, causing chaos on the bases; that looked like us tonight. It was a lot of fun to see.”
Cantillo slowed the red-hot Padres’ offense by tossing six solid innings and holding them hitless after allowing Jake Cronenworth’s single in the first inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game with a walk, advanced to third on Cronenworth’s hit and scored on a ground-ball double play.
“(Cantillo) definitely kept us off-balance the entire night with the off-speed pitches — with the curveballs and changeups, a little cutter, not many fastballs,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Seems to be a theme the last two nights with the Guardians.”
San Diego fell into a three-way tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies for the final two National League wild-card spots, while Cleveland sits a half-game out of the final wild card spot in a jammed American League race.
The pitching matchup for the series finale features a pair of right-handers as San Diego’s Casey Mize (4-7, 3.38 ERA) faces Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (4-12, 3.99).
Mize bounced back with a solid outing last Monday after allowing a career-high eight runs over 3 1/3 innings in his San Diego debut in a 10-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.
In his second outing with his new club, Mize gave up two runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Milwaukee Brewers, a 3-2 victory.
“It’s not always what happens to you but what you do after that,” Stammen said after the second outing. “And he put his nose to the grindstone this week and got ready for a start. Gave up a home run. Could have derailed his day, but he stuck with it. Showed his toughness. Got us through six innings and kept us in the ball game.”
Jose Ramirez is 6-for-14 (.462) with two home runs against Mize, who is 1-2 with a 2.93 ERA in five career starts versus Cleveland.
Ramirez doubled on Saturday for his first extra-base hit since June 13, when he landed on the injured list with a left hamate fracture.
The Guardians will counter with Bibee, who yielded six runs (five earned) over 6 1/3 innings in a 6-4 road loss to the Detroit Tigers last Tuesday.
“Man, on the night we needed him to give us length, he did, and you know they made him pay there in the fifth, and strung some hits together,” Vogt said afer that game. “So credit to them. But I thought Tanner threw way better than his line. He was outstanding.”
Luis Rengifo is 6-for-11 (.545) with a home run against Bibee, who is 1-1 with a 5.59 ERA in two career starts versus San Diego.
–Field Level Media
