BOSTON -- The Guardians wrapped up the month of August four games back of an AL Wild Card spot. If they were to make the postseason, they’d need to have a strong September.
And with six of their eight remaining series against teams in the hunt, the Guardians had their work cut out for them.
As the calendar flipped, Cleveland got off to a tough start with consecutive losses to open a three-game set against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. But the club salvaged the finale with a statement 8-1 win on Wednesday.
Now the Guardians head to Tampa for a four-game series against the Rays, who sit just ahead of Cleveland at 3 1/2 games back of the third and final AL Wild Card spot.
“It means that we can control our own destiny,” manager Stephen Vogt said pregame of the Guardians’ remaining schedule. “We win games, then no one can stop us, right? We just have to win the games. We're sitting here, we have an opportunity still. We're not out of it, and we feel really good about that. We just have to start winning more ballgames.”
Wednesday’s decisive win was the result of a combination of power and capitalizing on defensive mistakes. The Guardians took advantage of the Red Sox going with a bullpen game and forced Boston to use four relievers within the first three innings. In his first game back after sitting out four straight with a right hand contusion, Gabriel Arias took reliever Jordan Hicks deep with a 414-foot homer to kickstart a six-run second inning.
“Anytime we can get seven runs in the first couple innings, that'd be great,” Vogt said. “But it's really important in a bullpen game to disrupt the plan, and our guys were able to do that. Obviously their guys pitched really well after the second inning and shut us down. But anytime you're facing a bullpen game, that's what you have to do. You have to get to at least one of the guys, and we did a great job of that.”
Though the Guardians saw contributions up and down their lineup, it was the bottom of the order that was most responsible for disrupting Boston’s plan for the second night in a row.
On Tuesday, Austin Hedges and Brayan Rocchio each homered off Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet as part of another six-run inning. And on Wednesday, No. 7 hitter Arias homered to boost his average to .349 in seven career games at Fenway Park and C.J. Kayfus went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI as the No. 8 hitter.
“I just feel like over the course of the year, we've had these runs where one part of the order, whatever it might be, [performs well],” Vogt said, “but in order to win games, you’ve got to get contributions from all nine guys. And the guys at the bottom have just been doing a great job, just consistent at-bats.”
Backing the offense was starter Joey Cantillo, who showed off what he’d been working on with Triple-A Columbus with seven strikeouts and just one earned run over six innings in his first start since being recalled to fill out the six-man rotation.
The left-hander spent the early part of the season working out of the bullpen before joining the rotation on July 3 in place of Luis L. Ortiz. Cantillo pitched to a 4.03 ERA with 44 strikeouts over eight starts before he was optioned to Columbus, where he focused on attacking the zone.
And now Cantillo joins the club at a crucial point in their season, looking to help get his team to October.
“Every game counts,” Cantillo said. “Obviously, you see what this team's capable of. Doesn't matter how a couple games went, or a bad few days or a good few days, like you're staying in it. This team can obviously go on big runs like we've seen. So just staying in it every day, taking it one day at a time.”