Disappointed That Guardians Don’t Add At Deadline

The Major League Baseball trading deadline has come and gone and the front office of the Cleveland Guardians decided to sit it out, making just one small deal for a minor league pitcher.

It’s a curious decision to be sure, especially since the Guards remain just one game behind Minnesota in the AL Central Division race, and the Twins upgraded their pitching staff, trading for a starter (Tyler Mahle) and two relievers on Tuesday.

We weren’t expecting a big blockbuster involving the organization’s best prospects, but we don’t believe anyone can question the Guardians have several players on the current roster that do not perform to big league standards.

To us, it means the front office is fine still using Bryan Shaw (and his 5.63 ERA) and Kirk McCarty on “bullpen days”. With Aaron Civale still on the shelf, why not go out and get a starting pitcher? Our guess is he will miss at least two more turns in the rotation. Are they really going to keep using the Shaw/McCarty model?

And catcher continues to be an offensive hole. We have said many times we understand the organization values defense behind the plate. When they had guys who played great defense and hit .220, that was fine. Austin Hedges is hitting .173 (521 OPS) and Luke Maile is at .206 (602 OPS).

Why not upgrade the hitting at that spot?

Also, although it has nothing to do with the baseball operation, it is still a business that needs customers. We are sure there are many members of the fan base (we would be one) that aren’t happy the front office decided not to make some kind of move when the team has a legitimate chance at the post-season.

We laughed when we heard Terry Francona’s comments about the players deserving to “keep their jobs” based on the way they have played this year.

That’s great, but it’s also not how it works.

Since the front office didn’t strike a deal, then it’s time to see even more young players. The first step happened yesterday when Tyler Freeman was called up, replacing Ernie Clement, who was being used (somehow) as a platoon bat vs. lefties when he was hitting .200 against them.

Many people have said there was no deal for a catcher because of the presence of Bo Naylor, now at AAA. If that’s true, then bring Naylor up right now. He has a 928 OPS at the AA and AAA levels in the minors this season. Why not see what he can do?

As for the pitching staff, either make Konnor Pilkington the fifth starter now, or perhaps try Peyton Battenfield (6-5, 3.31 ERA at Columbus) in that role.

And why not take a look at Nick Mikolajchak in the bullpen? He’s 4-2 with four saves and a 3.15 ERA at AAA, striking out 33 in 34 innings pitched. We’d rather see him than Shaw, McCarty, or Anthony Castro, a reliever Cleveland keeps bringing up when they shuffle their bullpen.

If this season is about seeing what the young players can do, and to date, those young guys have been pretty impressive, then go all in on them.

Once again, the Guardians are telling you next year matters more than the present, and unfortunately, that seems to be the case a lot lately.

At one game out, that’s a difficult agenda to push.

Our Guardians’ Bullpen Confidence

One of the things about the Cleveland Guardians’ bullpen is outside of Emmanuel Clase, the group has kind of been in a state of flux all season.

Clase has been remarkable since the first two weeks of the season, and showed the entire baseball world how great he has been in the All-Star Game, when he struck out the side against the National League on ten pitches, earning the save for the AL.

The right-hander has allowed just 23 hits and six walks in 43 appearances this season, compiling 21 saves and a 1.31 ERA. However, the way Terry Francona and Carl Willis has gotten to Clase has changed a bit.

Early in the season, the Guards used Nick Sandlin and Trevor Stephan to set up, and mixed in Anthony Gose when a lefty was needed.

We should also mention there has been another constant, using Bryan Shaw in any role other than as the closer.

Gose proved to be prone to walks (14 in 21 innings) and the home run ball (he’s allowed four) and so Sam Hentges, who struggles with command too, started to be used in his place, but recently, Hentges hasn’t received a lot of work.

Sandlin couldn’t find the plate and Eli Morgan emerged as “a weapon” as Francona called him, able to work multiple innings. But he too as found a need to adjust as he’s allowed 11 earned runs in his last 15 innings.

Stephan had a rough stretch, but recently seems to have straightened himself out, and probably is back to being the pitcher of choice in the 8th inning of a close game.

Enyel De Los Santos is a guy who seems to be underused. He’s really had just two bad outing all season, and overall has a 2.87 ERA with 36 whiffs and 11 walks in 31-1/3 innings. There are times the skipper goes to Shaw, when De Los Santos would seem to be a better choice.

The Guards are also working back in James Karinchak, who missed most of the season, but in seven appearances totaling 8-2/3 innings, has struck out 16 and walked four. In his last five games, he hasn’t allowed a run in 6-2/3 frames. giving up three hits and fanning 13.

Based on all of the information currently at hand, here are our bullpen confidence ratings right now:

Clase (that goes without saying)
Stephan
De Los Santos
Sandlin
Hentges
Shaw
Karinchak
Morgan

This list is very fluid to say the least. We’d like to rank Karinchak higher, but you never know when he’s going to lose control. If he can demonstrate he can find the strike zone consistently, he’d be right there with Stephan.

And as good as Morgan was early in the year, right now, we would avoid using him in a close game. Maybe we will move him up if he can put up more zeroes.

Hentges seems to walk (or at least fall behind) the first hitter when he comes in the game and Shaw is prone to the long ball and the walk, two no-no’s for relief pitchers.

We guess what we are really saying is it would be nice if the front office got an extra arm for the bullpen by the trade deadline. Right?

Being Creative With Guardians’ Catchers

For many years, the Cleveland Guardians organization treats the catching position differently. They value defense and handling the pitching staff above everything else, and offense simply doesn’t matter for them.

And that’s fine. That’s their philosophy and the usual results of the pitching staff shows it has been successful by and large.

They had some years where the catchers have contributed with the bat, and as we know from the past few seasons, that’s the best-case scenario. In 2013 and 2014, Yan Gomes had very good offensive seasons, putting up OPS of 825 and 785 in those seasons, provided Terry Francona with great hitting and defense at catcher.

In 2019, Roberto Perez had a career year at the plate, belting 24 homers.

Still in reviewing those early years in Francona’s tenure, even if Gomes or Perez weren’t having very good offensive seasons, they still hit somewhere between .220-.230 meaning they were mediocre at the plate.

However, since 2020, the offense at catcher has really dropped off. That season, Perez hit .165 (480 OPS), Sandy Leon hit .136 (539 OPS) and Austin Hedges went 1 for 12.

Last season, Hedges hit .178 (527) and Perez .149 (564). This year, it’s more of the same, Hedges at .172 (497) and Luke Maile is at .174 (537).

So, the question is, why not treat hitting for this group the same as National League teams viewed a pitcher batting? If the #7 hole hitter (Cleveland’s catchers usually hit 8th) leads off and gets on base, have the catcher bunt him over, at least it would be a productive out.

We would also carry a third player who can catch, and the Guardians have a player who fits that bill in Columbus in David Fry, who has played 34 games at 3B, 26 games at 1B, and four games behind the plate.

In total, he has started 127 games in his minor league career behind the dish, including 29 last season with the Brewers’ organization.

Having a third catcher on the roster would enable Francona to pinch hit for the catcher a second time in a game, an option he doesn’t have right now, although he would be hampered in this regard by carrying 13 pitchers.

It would bring to mind the way the Oakland A’s handled second base at times in their glory days of the early 1970’s. The starter was Dick Green, who was a poor hitter, but they would carry two other infielders on the roster, so when that position came up in a clutch situation, they would pinch hit, and Oakland always had some veteran pinch-hitters on the roster just for this circumstance.

Too many times recently, the Guardians have had rallies short circuited because either Hedges or Maile comes up in a key situation.

And this isn’t a knock on either catcher, as we said at the top, this is the philosophy of the organization, and they aren’t on the roster for their hitting.

However, maybe there can be a better plan than letting players who are not good hitters go up there and hope for the best. And because they are catchers, if they hit the ball on the ground hard, it’s likely a double play.

We understand there is a designated hitter in both leagues now, so the use of the bunt is a thing of the past. Francona has always used this tool more than most, so why not use it with the catchers?

As we said, at least it would be a productive out.

Guardians’ Bullpen Issues Tough To Ignore

The Cleveland Guardians have a problem with an unlikely spot, the pitching staff. For all the talk about the team’s “pitching factory”, the club currently ranks 10th in the American League in staff ERA.

The starting pitching hasn’t been dominant, but for the most part, it’s been pretty good. Four of the five starters have ERA’s under 4.00 and Aaron Civale is the lone starter who doesn’t, but he’s been good in three of his four starts.

Zach Plesac is 2-6 record wise, but has pitched at least six innings and allowed less than three earned runs in six of his last seven starts. And Triston McKenzie has been prone to the gopher ball this season, but he was dominant against the Yankees to close out the last home stand and yesterday in Kansas City.

The real problem has been the bullpen. Outside of Emmanuel Clase, it doesn’t seem that anyone trusted by Terry Francona and Carl Willis is going a good job.

Against Boston, New York, and even Detroit, there were many instances where the starters left the game in a very competitive situation, only to see relief pitchers take a one or two run ballgame and letting the opponent put it out of reach.

We have said over the years that the two things relievers cannot do is give up home runs and/or walk people. The first helps teams get back in the game, the latter gives the opponent hope of getting back in the contest.

The two leaders in allowing the long ball out of the Guardians’ ‘pen are two pitchers Francona seems to really trust: Eli Morgan and Brian Shaw. Both have allowed a half dozen dingers, Morgan in 38-1/3 innings, Shaw in 28-1/3.

Morgan was dominant until a June 11th outing vs. Oakland in which he allowed a grand slam home run. Including that performance, he’s pitched 10-2/3 frames and allowed four home runs. You simply can’t use pitchers who give up that many home runs in the late innings.

He has blown four leads in that span.

Then you have the pitchers who can’t throw strikes consistently. Nick Sandlin has walked 18 hitters in less than 20 innings, and we don’t think anyone feels comfortable that James Karinchak is going to come in and throw strikes either.

Left handers Sam Hentges and Anthony Gose (now on the IL) have had issues with control, as has Shaw (which really makes you wonder why he is used in high leverage situations).

That leaves Enyel De Los Santos and Trevor Stephan has guys Francona should find reliable, but as of late, he hasn’t turned to them, and we find that curious.

Stephan gave up a run on the fourth of July to Detroit, the first run he allowed since June 12th. And he pitched out of an incredible jam against the Twins in the 10th inning to help Cleveland win 11-10.

De Los Santos was part of the problem giving up late runs in close games over the past two weeks, but generally, he’s been pretty good, and he’s only allowed two home runs all year.

If Cleveland wants to stay in the race, and they should, they are only 3.5 games out, they have to solve the bullpen issue and get Clase, who should make the All-Star Game, some help. There are always relievers available the trade deadline, but can the current group hold on until then.

Bad bullpens make good teams look bad. Hope that is not happening to the 2022 Guardians.

Guards Weathered The Storm, Now Back To The Division

After concluding a series at home against the Oakland A’s on June 12th, the Cleveland Guardians started what appeared to be a brutal stretch of games, starting with a nine game trip.

Through the end of June and going into the beginning of July, Terry Francona’s squad was going to play Minnesota eight times, and also have three game series against the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees.

If this group of Guardians wasn’t up to being a contender, surely, we would see it during over that three weeks of contests.

Coming into the last of those games today, Cleveland has acquitted themselves very well, going 7-9 thus far.

They took two of three from the Los Angeles, and five of eight against the Twins. They were swept at home by Boston, but two of those games very good games, and the offense went ice cold for a week during this period, which didn’t help.

Following today’s game against the Yankees, the Guards go back into the division pretty much through the end of the month, with only series against Boston and Tampa at the end of July interrupting the Central Division battles.

Cleveland is currently 17-11 vs. the AL Central as of today. However, they have to maintain that kind of play going forward.

Through July 25th, when they arrive at Fenway Park, the Guards have a seven-game trip to Detroit and Kansas City, followed by a homestand that will take them into the All-Star break. They will play a pair of four game sets against the White Sox and Tigers, and then have another quartet of contests (including a doubleheader of course) in the Windy City.

If they continue to play well in the division, that will seem to ensure Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff will be buyers at the trade deadline. The division would certainly still be in play, with the Guardians, Twins, and White Sox vying for what might be one spot, as the division winner.

In reality, it probably doesn’t make a difference either way. The organization has a glut of young players currently on the 40-man roster, and really doesn’t have room for all of them.

Look at the infield for example. Andres Gimenez might wind up making the Midsummer Classic roster this year, so he should be in the team’s plans going forward. So, what does that mean for Tyler Freeman, Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio, and even Owen Miller.

We have been on record as saying we believe Arias is the one to be moved and being called up this past weekend doesn’t do anything to make us feel differently.

We feel that way because Arias’ strikeout to walk ratio in the minors doesn’t seem to fit in with the current hitting philosophy of the organization. Plus, his recall is curious. He’s been injured for much of the season and was hitting under .200 for the year at AAA.

And the back end of the Cleveland bullpen, save for Emmanuel Clase, needs an upgrade. We’ve seen in the series against Boston and New York, there have been games where the starters have kept it close, but the bullpen allowed the game to get out of hand.

We understand the Guardians’ front office want players who will under control for a few years, so they won’t be looking for rentals. But if they can help this year’s team by giving up organizational depth, they almost have to do it.

They have a lot of baseball to play, but they’ve weathered a difficult part of the slate. With divisional games and some rest due to the All-Star break coming up, it’s not a stretch to think Cleveland will be in the thick of a post-season race.

Guards’ Roster Problems Aren’t Simple

It was a lost weekend for the Guardians, but they did have a chance to win two of the games against Boston, and let’s face it, the Red Sox are red hot right now.

There seems to be an ongoing discussion among Guards’ fans about the bottom of the team’s 26 man roster, but in looking closely at the situation, it’s not as easy as it seems to be.

From the position player standpoint, the last man on the bench (that’s not being pejorative, by the way) would seem to be Ernie Clement, who can probably play all four infield spots and has been used in left field by Terry Francona as well.

The problem would seem to be that Clement is being used as a platoon player, in the lineup whenever a southpaw is on the hill for the opposition. And it’s a problem because Clement doesn’t profile as this type of player.

In 98 career at bats vs. lefties, Clement has a .204 batting average and a 563 OPS. So, putting him in there instead of Andres Gimenez or Steven Kwan doesn’t really help you offensively.

However, even though the Guardians have a deep farm system, they really don’t have an alternative to Clement. Why? Because of his limited role as a utility man.

We are sure the front office want Tyler Freeman, Nolan Jones, and Gabriel Arias to play everyday at Columbus rather than getting sparing at bats at the big league level. And that makes total sense to us.

The only real solution we can think of is using Owen Miller more at 3B to give Jose Ramirez a day that he doesn’t have to play in the field. Francona could use Franmil Reyes in the outfield say, two days a week, therefore creating a chance to use either Ramirez or Josh Naylor at DH.

When Clement plays, he simply has to swing the bat better. He’s always been a patient hitter in the minors, with a 84/106 walk to strikeout ratio. In the bigs, he’s fanned 37 times against 14 walks. That would seem what he needs to do now in the majors.

The same roster problem exists with the last spot out of the bullpen. Since Nick Sandlin was sent down to find the strike zone (he hasn’t so far), the Guardians have used Anthony Castro, Yohan Ramirez, and Tanner Tully to try and protect the rest of the relief corps.

Tully was designated for assignment yesterday in favor of Ian Gibaut, who likely will get the same treatment today prior to the doubleheader.

The only other options currently on the 40 man roster are Kirk McCarty and Tobias Myers. McCarty didn’t fool anyone when he made a couple of brief appearance with Cleveland, and Myers isn’t pitching well at AAA.

The difference between this job opening and the utility spot is if a pitcher comes up and pitches well, he very well could stay on the roster for a while.

The point is sometimes it’s not as easy as just sending someone down, you also have to have someone ready to take that player’s role. And at times, especially for a bench player, you don’t want to use a prospect that needs to play.

Francona Has Guardians Surprising Again

Mike Hargrove used to say that there are two things everyone knows they can do better than anyone else, cook a steak and manage a baseball team.

With that in mind, we know that Terry Francona gets criticism from baseball fans on pretty much an every day basis. We know that because we do it too. From lineup construction to the use of relief pitchers to his famed patience (or stubbornness), we question what Francona is doing all the time (like bringing in Anthony Castro last night).

The truth of the matter is he is going to go the Hall of Fame when he retires. He currently ranks 17th all time in wins with 1817 and we are fairly confident he will pick up the 19 victories he needs to pass Lou Piniella to move into 16th place before the end of the season.

The health problems that have affected him the past couple of seasons appear to be behind him, so if he stays with the Guards another two years, he should become the 13th skipper to reach 2000 victories.

He’s already Cleveland’s all time leader in this department with 788 wins.

We remind everyone of Francona’s accomplishments because despite the questions and complaints we and many other fans have, the Guardians currently sit at 35-28 and lead the AL Central, something no one would’ve predicted heading into this season.

It’s quite remarkable to say the least.

Baseball x’s and o’s aside, what Tito is translates to all walks of life. He manages people. We believe that every single player (and probably coaches and equipment men too) know exactly what is expected of them, and the skipper takes the responsibility if something goes wrong and the player doesn’t succeed in a spot they shouldn’t have been in.

You also never hear Francona talk about himself when the Guardians’ win. It’s the players who win games, but when they lose, the manager takes it upon himself.

Players have to love that.

We chuckle at times when folks on social media want to know when Tito is going to talk to a player about a mistake made on the field. He does it, but he’s not going to do it in a postgame presser. He’ll handle it behind closed doors. Wouldn’t we all love our bosses to do it the same way?

By the way, we agree with people who believe the front office has more to do with lineup and roster construction than many think. Who plays, who stays, and who gets sent down is put together in conjunction with Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff, Francona, and the coaching staff.

It’s a collaborative effort.

The organization moved away from players like Bradley Zimmer (7 for 63 with Toronto, 433 OPS), Bobby Bradley (hitting .202 at AAA), Yu Chang (5 for 44 for the season with the Guards and Pirates) and now Oscar Mercado (.202 batting average, 604 OPS) relatively quick this season.

At least quicker than most fans thought.

It has spurred a new offensive strategy, grinding out at bats, putting the ball in play. That has helped in the success thus far in 2022.

Because Francona has seemingly done this before, getting players to overachieve, you have to give him a good part of the credit.

That doesn’t mean we will stop second guessing though. Now, about that steak…

Guardians’ Pitching Gives Them A Chance Daily

To be honest, when the Cleveland Guardians embarked on this trip to Colorado, Los Angeles, and Minnesota, we would have taken a 4-5 record. Just tread water and get back to Progressive Field, where they haven’t played much this season.

Six games into the trek, the Guards have already picked up five wins, thus clinching a winning trip and now head into a span where they play the team ahead of them in the AL Central standings, the Twins, eight times in the next ten days.

Minnesota sits one game ahead of Terry Francona’s squad, but because the Guardians have had so many games postponed because of weather, Cleveland is actually two games ahead in the loss column.

And when the team returns hope from the Twin Cities on Friday night, they will likely have played 39 of their 65 games on the road, meaning of course they will play 55 of the last 97 contests on the schedule at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

While the contact oriented hitting approach has been widely discussed and praised, the efforts of the pitching staff should not be ignored.

In this three week span where the Guards have gone 15-4, they have allowed more than four runs in a game just five times. This means most nights, the starting pitcher has given his team a shot at winning.

In 13 of those 19 games, the opponents scored no more than three tallies. The offense doesn’t have to be hitting on all cylinders to win games when your pitching is that good.

We don’t think fans realize how special that is. Even this past weekend, the pitching held the mighty Dodgers (yes, they were without Mookie Betts) to three runs or less in two of the three games, both of which resulted in Cleveland victories.

Ace Shane Bieber has made 13 starts in 2022 and has allowed more than three runs just once, an 8-3 loss to Toronto on May 7th. Since that start, he’s pitched 45-1/3 innings, allowing just 11 earned runs, a 2.18 ERA.

Triston McKenzie has started 11 times this year, allowing more than three runs in a game just twice. He’s allowed just 46 hits in 70 frames for the season.

Cal Quantrill has a dozen starts under his belt this season and has allowed more than three runs just twice, the second coming this past weekend in Dodger Stadium. He’s gone at least five innings in all but one start this year.

Zach Plesac can’t match the consistency shown by the trio already mentioned, but he’s allowed either one or two runs in three of his last four outings. No doubt that’s a trend Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis would like to see continued.

Rookie Konnor Pilkington has made four starts since Aaron Civale went on the injured list, and he didn’t allow more than four runs in those appearances.

Give your team a chance.

That’s the mantra the Guardians’ starting staff uses and it works. Give the offense a chance to scratch out some runs and who knows? It’s worked pretty well so far. As long as the rotation can do its job, the Guards will be in the mix.

It’s a simple formula really.

A Third Of The Way Through, Guards Holding Their Own

With the ninth inning comeback 3-2 win over Oakland on Friday night, the Cleveland Guardians reached the one third pole in their schedule, and currently sit at 28-26 on the year, a pace to win 84 games.

Considering the overall youth on the roster, that’s pretty good. The Guards do have a rough stretch coming up until the fourth of July hits, playing at Colorado, Dodger Stadium, and Minneapolis before coming home for series against the Twins, Red Sox and Yankees.

We will know a lot more about this team after that stretch. If they come out of it still above the breakeven mark, then it would be fair to consider Terry Francona’s club a legitimate post-season contender.

So, we shall see.

The biggest surprise for the Guardians has been their hitting, currently sitting third in the AL in runs scored per game, behind just the Yankees and Red Sox. We felt all off-season the front office needed to get one or two experienced hitters who can get on base, but instead, the Guards have decided to go with youth.

Gone are the high strikeout, low walk players like Bradley Zimmer and Bobby Bradley. They have been replaced by rookies Steven Kwan (.366 on base percentage, 21 walks/13 strikeouts), Oscar Gonzalez (7 whiffs in 57 plate appearances), and Owen Miller, who had a fast start, but still has a 725 OPS.

By the way, Miller has six sacrifice flies this season to lead Cleveland. Last year, Jose Ramirez led the club for the full year with five.

Last year, Cleveland ranked 9th in the league in striking out, this season, they are dead last. They are walking more as well, going from 2.8 per game last season to 3.1 in 2022.

And it helps that they have the incomparable Jose Ramirez hitting in the #3 hole. If the Statues can stay in the playoff hunt all season long, the switch-hitter could get the league MVP award that has alluded him recently.

Ramirez has three top three finishes in the voting (3rd in 2017 and 2018, 2nd in 2020) and four top ten results (6th last year). With all those accolades, he is having his best year in ’22.

He leads baseball in RBIs, is 7th in the AL in OBP and 2nd in slugging. He is 4th in homers, seventh in doubles in the AL, and leads the league in triples.

We don’t want to short the pitching staff either. They’ve moved up to 4th in the league in team ERA. Shane Bieber has made 11 starts after missing a good portion of last year with the shoulder issue, and all but one has been very good.

Triston McKenzie has been prone to the gopher ball this season, he leads the staff allowing 11, but has allowed just 39 hits in 64 innings. And yes, you read that correctly. Cal Quantrill is solid, and hopefully Zach Plesac continues to get better.

They need Aaron Civale to be healthy and to be pitching like he has in the past.

Eli Morgan has been a huge surprise, emerging as a set-up man for closer Emmanuel Clase, who has all-star numbers. With all of the doubleheaders coming up because of the lovely northeast Ohio weather this spring, the depth of the starters will have to come into play.

It could fall on another rookie, Konnor Pilkington, to produce, but the big league club may need others to step up.

As we said before, we will know an awful lot more about this young Guardians group when the next summer holiday arrives. Hopefully, Francona’s club is ready for the upcoming task.

Schedule Or Not, Guards’ Pitching Has Improved

A few weeks ago, we talked about what figured to be the Cleveland Guardians’ strength coming into the season, the pitching staff, wasn’t pulling its own weight, ranking near the bottom of the American League in ERA.

Things have taken a decided turn for the good for the Cleveland hurlers, as they have seen that ranking moved to 6th in the AL. Surprisingly, they are not doing it with the strikeout, as Guards’ pitchers are just ninth in the Junior Circuit in strikeouts per nine innings.

They are third from the bottom in total whiffs, but that has more to do with Terry Francona’s club playing at least three games less than every other team in the league.

They’ve allowed the third fewest hits per nine, behind only the Yankees and Astros, so there could be concern about how sustainable that is considering the lack of strikeouts.

New York is near the top of the league in whiffs per nine, while Houston averages the same as Cleveland.

In terms of issuing free passes, Carl Willis’ staff is right around league average, so nothing unusual there.

However, in the last 15 games, Cleveland pitchers have allowed more than four runs just twice, most recently, Saturday’s loss to Baltimore, and to take it back further, in the last 23 games, opponents have hit the five-run mark against the Guardians just four times.

The two most disappointing members of the rotation earlier this season were Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale. Plesac has two runs or less in three of his last four starts, and Civale has started only one game since May 13th, and it was a 6-1/3 inning, one run allowed (unearned) effort against Detroit.

Rookie left-hander Konnor Pilkington has subbed in with three starts and hasn’t allowed more than three runs in either of them.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the only above league average offense Cleveland faced in the last 15 games is Houston. The Tigers are the league’s worst offense, while the Orioles and Royals both rank in the bottom five in the AL in scoring.

There do seem to be changes afoot in the bullpen. Trevor Stephan has been struggling in his last few outings and Nick Sandlin has had issues throwing strikes all season, walking 15 batters in 15 innings.

So Francona has leaned more on Eli Morgan, a starter last season, and he has been more than impressive. Morgan started the year on the roster to be able to give the team innings because starters were still stretching out from the shortened spring training.

The 26-year-old righty has pitched 25 innings, allowing just 10 hits with only four walks against 32 strikeouts. He’s getting more and more opportunities in the seventh and eighth innings.

The same is true with southpaw Sam Hentges, who has thrown 16-1/3 frames, giving up just eight hits and four walks against 19 strikeouts. He has supplanted Anthony Gose as the late inning lefty.

Enyel De Los Santos has also worked his way into more high leverage situations as well.

If the club can get both Stephan and Sandlin straightened out, this has the makings of a very good bullpen.

If the pitching can keep this going, the Guardians can stay in the post-season race. Hopefully, the last group of games is more indicative of how good the staff can be.