Guardians Back In Win Column, Start Homestand with 8-4 Victory Over White Sox
The Guardians went an uninspiring 1-6 on their road trip before they made their way back home to Cleveland. The club entered the game 41-42 and 4.5 games back from the Twins atop of the AL Central.
Now, after notching an 8-4 victory at home, the team looks to make the most of this eight-game homestand before they enter the All-Star break.
Things to Know
The club will play a four-game series with the White Sox, including a doubleheader on Tuesday, before the four-game end cap with the Tigers. As it stands now, the club is 5-1 against the Sox and an abysmal 2-7 against the Tigers.
With tonight's game under the win column, the team is back to .500-ball and has a chance to gain some ground on the Twins. The division-leader has a two-game set with the Brewers and four-game series with the White Sox at home before the All-Star Break.
Tonight's Game Headlines
A few noteworthy moments from tonight includes five players for the club with a multi-hit game.
Franmil Reyes went 3-for-4 on the night, and Steven Kwan, Amed Rosario, Nolan Jones, and Myles Straw all had two hits each. Josh Naylor had the other base hit.
Straw is now 10-for-his-last-22 and has extended his hit-streak to six games. Jones has now safely hit in every game since being called-up and inserted into the lineup on Friday night, and now has six knocks under his belt in the bigs.
Guardians Score Early, Sox Threaten
The team piled the runs on Lance Lynn in the bottom of the first to take a 5-0 lead. The Sox would add three runs in the third, and one more in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-4.
Guardians' starter Cal Quantrill hung in until the seventh -- but after surrendering a double and a single, Terry Francona went to the bullpen and brought in Trevor Stephan who got the club out unscathed.
Quantrill's final line was six innings pitched, eight hits, four runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.
Stephan would also work a clean inning in the eighth to set up Emmanuel Clase to close out the game for the Guardians.
After tonight's game, the club improved to 42-42 and sit four games back of the Twins.
Another MLB Debut
One last thing to note is Alex Call made his MLB-debut this evening. Call, 27, has spent his days in Columbus this season batting .283 (65-for-230) with 16 doubles, 11 home runs, 44 RBI, and 48 walks over 68 games.
Tonight, Call entered as a pinch-hitter for Jones in the seventh and lined out to the center fielder.
Tuesday's Doubleheader
The Guardians and Sox are back in action on Tuesday with a day-night doubleheader. Game one probables are Davis Martin (1-2, 4.29) for the Sox and Shane Bieber (3-5, 3.45) for the Guardians.
Pitching probables for game two are Dylan Cease (7-4, 2.45) for Chicago and Konnor Pilkington (1-1, 4.08) for Cleveland.
