Ho hum, just another series victory over the Twins
Eighty percent sounds good, right?
Completing the five-hour saga in walk-off fashion in the early hours of Thursday evening, the Cleveland Guardians, who appeared all out of sorts when Gavin Williams went just two innings on Monday in an 11-1 loss to Minnesota, have now won four of their last five series against the Twins dating back to last season. In fact, the Guardians haven’t lost a series to Minnesota since September of 2023 when Lucas Giolito toed the rubber in that game.
Despite the blowout loss, the other three games went exactly how every Guardians/Twins game seems to go: great starting pitching leads to a close game entering the late innings when Minnesota’s seemingly infallible bullpen implodes in the most fascinating ways, getting Guards-ball’d into oblivion and into the bottom of the AL Central standings.
The heroes in this series were both the usual culprits and some new blood getting in on the fun. On Tuesday night, it was Kyle Manzardo’s walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth. Manzardo is no stranger to punishing Twins relievers as his blast off Griffin Jax last season propelled the Guardians down the stretch. On Thursday, however, it was a newly minted hero as Angel Martínez’s walk-off two-run single gave the Guardians the win and series victory.
Overall, it was a great series win. The starting pitching, outside of Monday, was excellent. Tanner Bibee’s seven innings of one-run ball in Tuesday’s 2-1 thriller gave the Guardians’ bullpen a much needed breather, and Luis Ortiz followed it up with 6.1 innings of scoreless pitching in Wednesday’s 4-2 victory. Ben Lively gave them more of the same on Thursday, twirling 5.2 scoreless innings. For those keeping count, that’s 19 innings and just one run yielded. Seeing Bibee and Ortiz pitch like this consecutively was a great sign of things to come as Bibee had it all working, dominating hitters all night long while Ortiz’s command of the strike zone was arguably the best its been all season. Lively has been a constant all season long, and he’s now gone at least five innings in five of his six starts.
AL CENTRAL STANDINGS
DET: 20-12 | Next series @ LAA
CLE: 18-13 | Next series @ TOR
KCR: 17-15 | Next series @ BAL
MIN: 13-19 | Next series @ BOS
CWS: 8-23 | Next series vs. HOU
On the Farm: McKenzie clears waivers; Kayfus crushes in Triple-A debut
In more great news, Triston McKenzie cleared waivers after being DFA’d last week and accepted his outright to Triple-A Columbus. Staying in Columbus, Guardians 1B/cOF prospect CJ Kayfus earned his promotion up to the Clippers, and he made an impression right away, notching his first Triple-A home run in his very first game. All Kayfus has done is hit since being drafted in 2023. Kayfus had been running a .364 average and 1.066 OPS in notoriously pitcher-friendly Akron, and if he continues his hot hitting, he could find his way in Cleveland much sooner than anyone else anticipated.
Slade Cecconi also made his regular season debut in Columbus, going 3.1 innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. Cecconi touched 98 on his fastball, and his newly found sinker was dancing all night. More healthy starter depth is on its way.