CLEVELAND -- It didn’t take long for the Guardians’ opener strategy to go sideways on Friday.
Joey Cantillo made sure an inauspicious start to the night ultimately was just that.
Cantillo tossed six scoreless innings in relief in the Guardians’ 5-3 win over the Athletics at Progressive Field, covering the second through seventh innings. He allowed just two hits and one walk with five strikeouts pitching behind opener Daniel Espino, who walked three and allowed a three-run home run in the first inning.
“That was outstanding,” manager Stephen Vogt said of Cantillo. “That was an unbelievable performance. Tough first inning for Daniel, but Joey came in and stopped them. They could not get anything going, and it allowed us to come back.”
The Guardians rallied behind a pair of home runs by Travis Bazzana and José Ramírez to improve to 79-75. Coupled with the White Sox (78-76) losing, 11-8, to the Tigers later in the night, Cleveland reassumed sole possession of first place in the American League Central with eight games remaining in the season.
In a perfect world, Cantillo would not be pitching out of the bullpen in any capacity right now. He was part of the Guardians’ Opening Day rotation and has made 30 starts this season. He sees himself as a starting pitcher. But something had to give after he had a string of shaky performances within the past month.
Cantillo issued 18 walks in 18 1/3 innings over four starts from Aug. 21-Sept. 7. He walked five batters and hit two more on Labor Day in Baltimore, when he was charged with four runs on just three hits over 2 1/3 innings.
The Guardians have used Espino as an opener for Cantillo the past two turns through their rotation. Cantillo has allowed three hits and two walks with one hit batter over 10 innings, striking out 13.
Cantillo noted he has sat down with Vogt and pitching coach Carl Willis in recent weeks. He has talked to his rotation mates, such as Gavin Williams and Parker Messick, and others on Cleveland’s pitching staff. It’s all been in an effort to get back to doing what he does when he’s at his best.
“Which is pretty simple, and it's throwing the ball over the plate, obviously,” Cantillo said. “It's easy to say, but like, ‘What is your process to throw the ball over the plate? What is your process to attack?’ I think just doing a better job of focusing on that, basically, instead of letting other things that aren't as important or necessary get in the way.
“Just really simplifying it and say, ‘OK, what do I need to do to throw the ball down the middle?’”
That’s the overarching theme here, and part of the larger conversation around Cantillo during his big league career. His stuff is good. He just has to throw it over the plate.
After his start in Baltimore, Williams told Cantillo he wanted to see the lefty throw his fastball right down the middle of the plate. Williams is a good reference point. He led the Majors in walks last year (83). He’s locked in his command by recognizing how good his stuff is, and how he just has to throw it over the plate.
Williams has 235 strikeouts and just 56 walks in 174 innings this season.
“In the Majors, things happen for a reason,” Cantillo said. “But I think at one point this year, my process was closer to that and my process was closer to executing strikes. I think for whatever reason, the last month and a half, two months, whatever, it probably drifted away from that way too much. Clearly that obviously led to some losses and some things not going how we want to.”
Cantillo faced 19 batters on Friday and recorded 18 outs. He worked around a Jeff McNeil leadoff single in the fourth by getting Tommy White to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Catcher Patrick Bailey erased a Lawrence Butler leadoff walk in the sixth by throwing him out on a stolen-base attempt.
Vogt said Cantillo earned the seventh inning, and he retired the A’s 1-2-3 -- capped off by getting Michael Stefanic to strike out looking.
Cantillo working behind an opener feels more like a temporary move than a long-term proposition. Who knows whether it continues the next rotation turn, even. But he helped Cleveland pick up a key win on Friday.
As Vogt said: “That’s two in a row he’s been really good.”