CHICAGO -- Logan Allen has been a steady presence for the Guardians’ starting rotation over the past month. In his final start before the All-Star break, the lefty once more delivered a quality outing.
Allen threw his third straight quality start on Friday, to lead the Guardians to a 4-2 win over the White Sox at Rate Field in Game 1 of a split doubleheader. The 26-year-old allowed two runs on one hit and two walks over six innings, and he struck out five, as Cleveland recorded its fourth straight win.
The only damage off Allen came in the second inning, when he issued a one-out walk to Mike Tauchman followed by a two-run homer to Luis Robert Jr. He retired the final 14 Chicago hitters he faced.
“I threw a bad pitch to Robert, kind of into his nitro zone,” Allen said. “Probably the one mistake that we had all day. But all in all, I felt good and thought that we executed well, and that was the big thing today.”
Over the past month, Allen has posted a 3.34 ERA in 35 innings over six starts, with 30 strikeouts compared to 11 walks. He has lowered his ERA from 4.42 to 4.00 over that stretch.
But perhaps most impressive is that Allen has continued to provide the Guardians length in the rotation. He’s thrown 41 innings over his past seven starts (5.86 innings per start average) dating to his June 6 start against the Astros. He’s gone six innings five times in that stretch.
In his first 10 starts this season, Allen threw 48 innings (4.8 innings per start average). He went six innings once during that stretch.
“He's going out and competing,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “And when Logan's in compete mode, he's pounding the zone, he's coming right after hitters. You see the one-pitch outs. When you're getting one-pitch outs, you are making quality pitches on the first pitch.
“I’m really proud of the way Logan just continued to push himself and compete.”
Allen threw 92 pitches on Friday, including 56 strikes (61 percent average). That’s only his 10th-highest rate in a start this season, though his ability to get through six innings is a testament to staying in the zone and keeping his pitch count in an efficient place.
Six of the first eight pitches Allen threw on Friday were out of the strike zone. He walked leadoff man Chase Meidroth and fell behind Austin Slater 2-0, prompting a visit from catcher Austin Hedges. Allen bounced back by getting Slater to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, and he then got Miguel Vargas to fly out to right fielder Nolan Jones to end the inning.
What did Hedges tell Allen during the visit?
“Just only get everybody out and don't allow anybody on base,” Hedges joked, before grinning. “No, he was just missing some pitches arm-side, and he's so good when he gets to his glove side. It was like, ‘Just make sure you're driving the ball to your glove side, and once we execute that, then we can go from there.’”
Allen credited Hedges’ meeting for helping him take a breath and reset.
“Hedgey was great there in that first inning, coming out there and calming me down,” Allen said.
The Guardians’ offense backed Allen by slugging three homers. Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martínez went back to back in the second, and Carlos Santana hit a two-run blast in the sixth.
Martínez has gone deep in three straight games for the first time in his career, after his homers on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Astros. It was Santana’s 227th career blast with Cleveland; he passed Earl Averill for sole possession of fifth place in franchise history.
Santana slumped in June (.169/.233/.253, 23 games) after he put together a stellar May (.316/.450/.544 slash line in 24 games). But he’s also typically been a better second-half player compared to the first.
For his career, the 39-year-old Santana has a .239/.354/.420 slash line before the All-Star break and .247/.351/.443 afterward.
“It’s a long season,” Santana said. “All of my career, I’ve finished strong. I’m a second-half player. I know the team needs me. … I try to prepare through the All-Star break now, keep working on my swing, work on my body. I don’t worry. Check my numbers in September. I’m confident.”