Cleveland

Guardians

Cecconi matched his season high in strikeouts. He gave up 10 hard-hit balls, but just one proved to be a problem; Spencer Jones hit a two-run homer in the second after a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk to start the inning. It went as a third straight no-decision for Cecconi, who remains 3-5 with a 4.83 ERA. He’s due for a two-start week with road outings in Milwaukee and Houston next week. We wouldn’t recommend streaming him, though.

Kwan has completely collapsed with the bat, so it’s time to find new and more interesting ways to reach base. Alas, catcher’s interference doesn’t help with his OBP. He’s still at a respectable .323 there, but he’s batting .213 and slugging .262. He tried a squeeze bunt tonight, but the pitcher got to it quickly and was able to tag the runner coming down base line. His current hard-hit rate is 8.5 percent. Of course, that’s never been a strength of his, but it’s still less than half of his career mark of 20.4%. To put it in perspective, the only player in the Statcast era to qualify for the batting title and finish with a sub-11 percent hard-hit rate was Billy Hamilton, who came in at 8.5 percent in 2018.

Williams reached 100.4 mph on the gun tonight, and his 98.7-mph average on his fastball was 2.1 mph better than his season norm. Still, it didn’t stop him from giving up two homers, one on a cutter and another on a curve. It would have been nice to see Williams do a little better in consecutive starts against Aaron Judge-less Yankees lineups — he allowed two homers and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings last time out — but it could have gone worse. He’s still tied for the major league lead with nine wins. He has a 3.95 ERA in his last seven starts after coming in at 2.73 in his first seven. Williams will face the Tigers next.

The 21-year-old was promoted to Triple-A in the middle of May after hitting .317/.414/.566 with seven homers in 169 plate appearances over 36 games at Double-A Akron. He has since gone 13-for-54 (.241) at Triple-A with one home run, three RBI, and a 15/3 K/BB ratio. He’s the Guardians’ top prospect and the 56th-ranked prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, and could be an option to break camp with the team in 2027, if we have a baseball season.

In his minor league career, Ingle has caught 199 games and been a DH for 67 games. He has only made two starts in left field, and they have come in his last two games. That appears to be a pretty strong indicator that the Guardians are trying to see if there’s a way they can get Ingle up to help their big league lineup. The 24-year-old is slashing .300/.456/.569 in 40 games at Triple-A with nine home runs and a 37/37 K/BB ratio. Since he would likely have catcher eligibility in most fantasy leagues, his call-up would be an intriguing one.

Cantillo gave up nine hits, walked two and struck out seven. He fell to 4-3 with the loss. Cantillo entered the game with a 3.92 ERA and a 4.64 xFIP. After allowing seven earned runs, his ERA is 4.57. It’s a tough break for fantasy managers that 11 of the 34 runs Cantillo has allowed this year came in his last two starts, but given his xFIP this feels like him pitching to his true talent level. He’s off the fantasy radar for his next start against the Tigers at home next weekend.

Ramírez led off the third inning with a solo homer off Jack Leiter to put the Guardians on the board. He then singled, stole second, and scored in the fifth. Ramírez would reach for a third time on a walk in the sixth. The 33-year-old third baseman is hitting .242/.349/.434 with 10 homers, 39 runs scored, 33 RBI, and 23 steals across 289 plate appearances. The 23 steals have Ramírez tied for the MLB lead with Bobby Witt Jr. and Nasim Nuñez.

Rocchio took Jack Leiter deep for a solo home run in the fifth inning, then later knocked a base hit in the sixth. The two-hit game snaps a small, three-game hitless streak. Meanwhile, the home run is his first since May 17 and his fifth of the season. The 25-year-old infielder has enjoyed a strong season so far, hitting .283/.361/.410 with 28 runs scored, 29 RBI, and 11 steals across 235 plate appearances.

Bibee put together his best start of the season on Saturday, holding the Rangers scoreless over eight innings. He scattered three hits and two walks, tossing an efficient 54 of 87 pitches for strikes. He struck out three. The 27-year-old right-hander knocks a half run from his ERA, coming into the day with a 4.57 mark and ending with a 4.09 with a 1.23 WHIP and a 63/24 K/BB ratio across 77 innings. He’ll look to keep it going against the Tigers in Cleveland on Friday.

Bazzanna wasted little time giving the Guardians a lead in this one, crushing the third pitch thrown by Kumar Rocker for a 385-foot (99.1-mph EV) leadoff home run. He also singled and tripled in the contest, finishing a double shy of the cycle. The 23-year-old has been awfully impressive since joining the Guardians, slashing .288/.371/.472 with four homers, 16 RBI and nine stolen bases in his first 143 plate appearances.