Foster Griffin picks up 12th win against D-backs

Griffin was once again good rather than great here. The Tigers made him work hard in practically every inning and he was fortunate to escape two huge jams with just three runs on the board. He’s no longer spotting his cutter like he was earlier this season and without getting ahead in the count as often, his stuff is not good enough to consistently force swings-and-misses in the zone. He now has a 4.06 ERA through six starts since being traded to the Guardians and is scheduled to face the Orioles on the road next time out.

Griffin works through four quiet frames, stranding two runners in the third, before giving up two runs on three straight hits to start the fifth. Griffin would strike out two of the final three batters in the frame to get out of the jam and end his day at 82 pitches with four strikeouts. The 31-year-old left-hander will take a 3.21 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 139/39 K/B ratio across 154 1/3 innings into a start against the Tigers in Cleveland on Friday.

It’s the 15th win of the season for Griffin. The southpaw dealt with traffic as seen in five hits and three walks, but he was able to limit the damage to the two runs, thanks at least in part to four strikeouts. Griffin has an outside shot at winning 20 games this year, which we all predicted, right? He’ll face the Royals over the weekend.

He struck out six. Griffin has won two out of three for the Guardians, allowing 10 runs — seven earned — over 15 innings in the process. He’ll pitch in Colorado next time out, but that’s probably fine.

Griffin was much better in this start compared to his Guardians debut last week. His cutter command was back on track as that pitch lived on the edges and he did well mixing his deep repertoire off it. He still wasn’t especially sharp, forcing just three swings-and-misses, but also didn’t get much help from his defense after an error by José Ramírez opened the door for two unearned runs to score in what turned into a 26-pitch first inning. Still, this was a fine start and Griffin is scheduled to a tense two-start week coming up first at home against the Giants and then into Coors Field to face the Rockies.

Luis Torrens and Marcus Semien took him out of the park in the second inning and the Mets were able to tack on in both the third and fourth innings. Despite his last two starts being clunkers, Griffin is still 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA over his last seven starts, and this is a good situation to rack up some wins in if he can get hot. He’ll pitch against the Tigers next week.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt confirmed that Slade Cecconi will move to the bullpen with Tanner Bibee starting in his place on Wednesday. Griffin came over from the Nationals in a five-player swap at the trade deadline earlier this week. The 31-year-old southpaw has posted a strong 3.06 ERA and 116/30 K/BB ratio across 129 innings in his return to the majors after three seasons pitching overseas in Japan.

Griffin has been outstanding in his return to MLB action with a 3.06 ERA and 116/30 K/BB across 129 1/3 innings, but the Nationals will aim to sell high and move the southpaw. The Guardians will hope he can keep it up, and fantasy managers who play in AL-only leagues should be looking to take a flyer on Griffin for the remainder of 2026. There’s some risk here, but there’s a decent enough sample of quality hurling to believe he can be an effective option for the final two months.

This one qualifies as a surprise. According to multiple reports, the Nationals are getting four players back in the deal. The 31-year-old journeyman earned a trip to the All-Star Game last month and has posted a strong 3.06 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 116/30 K/BB ratio across 129 1/3 innings in his stateside return. The move to Cleveland is a boost to his fantasy appeal since he should benefit from facing weaker lineups in the AL Central in addition to pitching in some friendlier ballparks.

This was Griffin’s first rough start in a while. The Braves were on him immediately, scoring in each of the first two innings and had six hard-hit balls in the process. Then, Griffin completely fell apart in the sixth when Matt Olson doubled to start the frame, Ozzie Albies singled just after, and Michael Harris II brought everyone home with a long three-run home run. That was the second left-on-left homer Griffin allowed in this game and it was a start to forget about as soon as possible. If he remains on the Nationals through the trade deadline, he’ll face the Phillies on the road next time out.