Cleveland, OH — The Cleveland Guardians completed a three-game series sweep against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field from Thursday, July 14 through Saturday, July 16.
The series’ fourth game was scheduled for Sunday afternoon but was postponed due to rain, and will be made up on Aug. 15 as part of a doubleheader when the two teams meet again in Cleveland.
It was a critical stint for the Guardians, as they entered the Detroit series with a below .500 record (43-44) after two home losses to the Chicago White Sox.
With 87 games in the books, Cleveland fans knew that their team needed to keep pace with Minnesota if they were to have any chance of winning their first AL Central Division title since 2018.
Thursday, July 14: Guardians 4, Tigers 0
A strong opening three innings proved vital for the Guardians in their series opener at Progressive Field. Triston McKenzie started on the mound for Cleveland after Aaron Civale was placed on the injured list due to right wrist soreness earlier in the week, and McKenzie was nothing short of spectacular.
In eight innings pitched, McKenzie surrendered only five hits and finished with a 3.20 ERA. He also secured 12 strikeouts—the fourth time in his career he had a game with 10 or more.
“I think I was just (being) myself. I tried to establish that from pitch one,” McKenzie said after Thursday’s win. “I’m happy to go out there and put zeros on the board.”
The bats went to work early as well. Josh Naylor nailed a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to open the scoring. Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario scored in the third to increase Cleveland’s advantage to 3-0.
Andrés Giménez capped off the night with another solo home run in the eighth inning.
Friday, July 15: Guardians 6, Tigers 5
A win is a win—even if it is not in the most appealing fashion. That was the case for the Guardians in the second game of the series on Saturday.
Despite a rough performance from starting pitcher Zach Plesac (3.2 innings, two errors, six hits), Cleveland’s batters picked up the slack. Runs from Kwan, Rosario, and José Ramírez gave the home team a commanding 3-0 lead after the first inning.
Detroit’s offense began to knock at the door in the third inning with a Riley Greene solo home run to cut the deficit to 3-1. Little did the Guardians know, that would not be the last they saw of Greene.
Tigers pitcher Drew Hutchison struck out Josh Naylor to end the third. For the first time in the series, Detroit was in business.
Greene doubled to send Willi Castro and Jonathan Schoop home, contributing to a 5-3 Tiger lead after the top of the fourth.
Austin Hedges was able to regain some much-needed traction for the Guardians with a single that sent Andrés Giménez home and made the score 5-4.
The true shift in momentum came in the top of the sixth, when Amed Rosario and first baseman Owen Miller connected on a tremendous double play. Cleveland took that momentum with them to score two runs in the seventh inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Josh Naylor and a single from Giménez, giving the Guardians a 6-5 lead.
It was a nail-biter, but the home team prevailed after nine innings. Despite his struggles from the pitching mound, Plesac believes there is lots to look forward to.
“It’s just (about) continuing to learn from those experiences and (continuing) to look for any way I can keep us in the game and get us in a good spot to win,” Plesac said on Friday.
Saturday, July 16: Guardians 10, Tigers 0
Fans at Progressive Field were on the edge of their seats in Friday night’s contest, but by Saturday afternoon they were sitting back and relaxing.
The Guardians’ batting order put up nothing short of a masterpiece. José Ramírez picked up his 18th home run of the season to send him, Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario past home plate to bring Cleveland up 3-0 after the first inning.
Instead of allowing the Tigers to creep back into the game, the Guardians kept their foot on the gas pedal. The second inning was the most prolific scoring frame for Cleveland. Nolan Jones, Luke Malie and Myles Straw all got on the scoresheet.
The final scoring play of the inning saw Ramírez smash in his second home run of the afternoon, allowing him and Rosario to pick up their second runs of the game. That meant five runs in just one inning.
After just two innings of play, Cleveland had its largest lead of the series—an 8-0 cushion.
A Josh Naylor home run and Nolan Jones single tacked on two more runs for the home team in the bottom of the fourth.
The 10 runs Cleveland scored were the highest they had since July 9 in a 13-1 trouncing of Kansas City. It was the eighth time this season the Guardians finished a game with double-digit runs scored.
Why was this series significant?
What makes this series stand out for the Guardians was how each game highlighted a different quality of the team.
On Thursday, Triston McKenzie silenced what was left of his doubters. His ability to throw a career-high 109 pitches, play eight innings and maintain a clean sheet shows just how dominant he can be at the mound.
Friday’s thriller proved that the Guardians are more than capable of withstanding adversity and staying composed during a tight contest. A trait that is critical in postseason play.
Saturday demonstrated what Terry Francona’s batting lineup can achieve when at their best. Although it is difficult to score double-digit runs at any level of baseball, players like Steven Kwan, José Ramírez and Josh Naylor showed that this Cleveland batting order is not something to be taken lightly.
That prolific offense can keep the Guardians in any game, even if the team’s starting pitcher is having a rough performance.
Upcoming schedule
Due to the postponement of Sunday’s game, the Guardians will have an extra day off in their MLB All-Star break. The team resumes play on Friday for a four-game road series against the Chicago White Sox. Chicago is just one game behind Cleveland for second place in the AL Central Division.
First pitch from Guaranteed Rate Field is set for 8:10 p.m. EST.
