Weekend Wrap-Up and Preview of Twins Series

Combination news and notes and preview for August 28th

After taking two of three from the Blue Jays, the Guardians will take on the Twins in the most important series of the season so far. If the Guardians sweep, they’ll still be three games back of the Twins. If the Twins even win the series, the Guardians can start planning their October vacations.

Tonight at 7:40pm EST, Xzavion Curry will face off against Kenta Maeda, who is certainly the worst Twins starting pitcher the Guardians will see the next two days. Soft-tossing, control first pitcher who isn’t very good tends to be a recipe for disaster with Cleveland, unfortunately, but let’s hope for the best!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the 29th, at 7:40pm EST, Gavin Williams will pitch vs. Pablo Lopez. Both pitchers will need to rebound from a tough previous start, and Lopez will look to show the Twins why they traded Luis Arraez to acquire him.

Finally, Wednesday the 30th at 1:10pm EST, Tanner Bibee will go for Cleveland against Sonny Gray for the Twins, wrapping up the series with two staff aces matching up.

For the month of August, Kepler has a 182 wRC+, Ryan Jeffers has a 171 wRC+, Royce Lewis has a 154 wRC+, and Michael Taylor has a 140 wRC+. For Cleveland, Ramon Laureano has a 128 wRC+, Kole Calhoun a 124 wRC+, and Andres Gimenez has a 109 wRC+ this month. Jose Ramirez looked this week like he is turning a rough month around, though, so hopefully that trend continues in Minneapolis.

The Guardians designated Noah Syndergaard for assignment following his start on Sunday, allowing them add a reliever for the Twins series (Daniel Norris again?) and to re-insert Cal Quantrill into the rotation.

Around the Minor Leagues:

Columbus won a 4-2 game on Saturday featuring 2 hits from Kyle Manzardo, Jose Tena, and Brayan Rocchio as well as a good Cal Quantrill start, and then lost 8-4 on Sunday with two hits from Johnathan Rodriguez, David Fry, and a hit and 2 walks from Tena and a hit and a walk from Rocchio, as well as a bad Joey Cantillo start. Akron lost 9-8 on Saturday, but a ton of players got on base multiple times including Petey Halpin, Milan Tolentino, Aaron Bracho, and Juan Brito, then the Rubber Ducks won on Sunday 9-2, with Brito contributing a homer, a double and a walk, Halpin a hit and 2 walks, Angel Martinez (fresh off a return from Triple-A) a grand slam, and Bracho a hit and two walks. The Captains won 6-3 on Saturday, with a three-hit effort from Kahlil Watson, a two-hit including a homer performance from Chase DeLauter, and two more hits and a walk from Jake Fox, then followed it up with a 2-0 win on Sunday, and DeLauter logging another two hits, and three hits and a walk from Joe Lampe backing an excellent 5-strikeout start from Steve Hajjar and four solid relief innings from Trenton Denholm. The Hillcats lost 4-3 on Saturday and won 4-3 on Sunday, the latter game featuring the Low-A debut of Jaison Chourio who took 2 walks and Guy Lipscomb’s second triple in as many days.