September 12 – The Cleveland Guardians enter the final stretch of the regular season.
However, he could face a tough challenge from Tampa Bay’s Ryan Pepiot in the opener of a four-game home series with the Rays on Thursday.
From Aug. 3 to 27, Cleveland (84 wins and 62 losses) achieved a record of 8 wins and 16 losses and once lost the outright lead in the American League Central Division, but has won 13 games since then. The division-leading Guardians completed a three-game road sweep by beating the weak Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Wednesday.
“It’s September, man, it’s time to try to win this division,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges, who hit a home run on Wednesday, told Bally’s Sports Cleveland. “We still have room to grow, but we’re playing well right now.”
Cleveland’s Lane Thomas had three hits and four RBIs in Chicago’s final outing and is batting .405 with 13 RBIs in 10 games this month. Thomas entered September batting .148 with three RBIs in 28 games since his acquisition from Washington.
“I think anytime you get traded or move to a new place, it takes a lot of time to really adjust to all aspects of life,” head coach Stephen Vogt said, according to MLB.com. “It feels like he’s back on his fastball and he’s looking like himself, he’s confident, and he has some really good hitters.”
Thomas never faced Pepiatt (8-6, 3.66 ERA), who led the Rays to a 2-0 win over the Guardians on July 14. The right-hander allowed two hits, struck out batters but did not walk and threw out four bases and earned a walk in six scoreless innings.
Although Pepiat went on the disabled list a few days later with a knee infection, that performance was part of just nine starts in which he went 4-2 with a 2.31 ERA. He struggled at times in 5 1/3 innings in a 7-1 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore on Saturday, allowing six hits, two walks and just one run.
“We have a good plan,” Papio said. “When they get people on the field, let one ball lead us to the next ball and get us out of trouble.”
In two career games (one start) against Cleveland, Pepiot is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA.
The Rays (71-75) won two of three games in Baltimore before traveling to Philadelphia this week and trailed by a total of seven points in the three games.
Despite Tampa Bay’s futile offense against the Phillies, Yandy Diaz is batting .400 with eight RBIs over his last 10 games. He went 2-for-5 with two doubles against Gavin Williams (3-8, 5.25 ERA), whom Cleveland is scheduled to start on Thursday.
The right-hander is looking to bounce back after failing to make an out in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. Williams reached base 3 times, had 2 hits and gave up 5 runs, but got only 2 outs and lost 7-2.
Williams allowed three runs and four hits in 12 innings in his first two starts.
“Just pushing it up a little bit and jerking the ball, so he didn’t have any command,” Vogt said.
Williams’ command was inconsistent on July 13 at Tampa Bay, allowing three hits and three runs on 94 pitches in a 4–2 win at Cleveland, but allowed only one run in five innings, reaching 2 points (self-blame points). In two career starts against the Rays, he had no decisions and his ERA was 1.80.
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