Foster

Griffin

The Rays jumped all over Griffin in the opening frame as Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca delivered RBI singles. He managed to settle in afterwards, retiring nine of the final 10 hitters he faced after the first inning. He finished with three strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass. He was long gone from the contest by the time Cleveland’s offense came to life in the late innings to pull off a Game 1 win.

Griffin worked in relief during Game 3 of the ALDS against the White Sox, and he limited Chicago to one run in his 2 2/3 innings. The left-hander pitched well for the most part in 2026 with 15 wins and a 3.60 ERA, and he’ll potentially get a chance to start multiple games in the best-of-seven series.

Making his first appearance in nearly two weeks, Griffin notched seven of the nine outs by strikeout and allowed just three baserunners after entering the contest with two outs in the opening frame following hard-throwing opener Daniel Espino. He generated eight swinging strikes and threw 39 of 53 pitches for strikes in the abbreviated relief outing. He’ll presumably be available to pitch in the final two games of the best-of-five series, provided that Cleveland continues to stave off elimination.

Espino gets the ball as Cleveland’s opener ahead of lefty Foster Griffin. The hard-throwing 25-year-old rookie posted a pedestrian 4.11 ERA across 15 1/3 regular-season innings. He was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball roughly a half-decade ago before shoulder issues derailed his career. He’ll be tasked with helping the Guardians stave off elimination at the hands of their upstart division rivals.

A master escape artist, Griffin somehow held the Red Sox to just one run while scattering 10 hits. He only tossed one cleaning inning out of six and let runners into scoring position in all five of those. Yet, he forced key whiffs when he needed them – on his sweeper especially – and was practically never behind in the count. Of course, that’s because Boston’s hitters were often aggressive early in the count, but Griffin never faced a 2-0, 3-1, or 3-0 count in this game. He closed the regular season with a strong 3.60 ERA and 15 wins. He will likely pitch next for the Guardians in the postseason.

Griffin gave up five hits, walked two and struck out five. He failed to complete five innings for the second start in a row. Griffin has a 5.79 ERA in eight starts since joining the Guardians. He’s lined up to face the Red Sox on the road next week.

Griffin retired six of seven batters through two scoreless innings, only to give up seven hits, a walk and a HBP in a disastrous third inning. Remarkably, only one of the seven knocks came on a hard-hit ball. On the other hand, his one out in the inning was a 361-foot sac fly from Rece Hinds that would have been a homer in 16 ballparks. Griffin dropped to 15-5 with a 3.65 ERA. He’s still probably worth using at home against the White Sox next week.

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.