MINNEAPOLIS – After two rough starts by Joey Cantillo, the Guardians decided to switch up their strategy and use multiple openers before Cantillo took the mound Saturday at Target Field. And though Cantillo pitched well, Cleveland was trailing by three runs by the time he entered the game in the third inning, and could not quite battle all the way back.
Cantillo struck out eight batters – one shy of his season high – in four scoreless innings of relief, but the Guardians couldn’t provide enough offensive support in a 4-3 loss.
“I thought we had good at-bats,” said manager Stephen Vogt, whose squad managed just five hits off Twins starter Connor Prielipp and four relievers. “We hit a lot of balls hard, right at people. We got traffic … we just weren't able to score enough runs.”
Coupled with the Blue Jays’ win over Baltimore earlier in the day, the Guardians’ lead for the final AL Wild Card spot shrunk to one game. They also slipped to one game behind the White Sox in the AL Central race, with Chicago playing at St. Louis later Saturday.
If the Guardians are going to hold on and reach the playoffs for the third straight year, they’re going to need Cantillo to cover some big innings down the stretch, and his appearance on Saturday was a huge step in the right direction.
Cantillo had struggled in his last two starts against Toronto and Baltimore, allowing 13 runs (eight earned) in just 7 2/3 innings. But he got back on track Saturday by relaxing and trusting his stuff.
“Just really emphasizing on executing pitches in the strike zone and throwing pitches down the middle,” Cantillo said. “Just execution, focus, which should always be that way, but I obviously think the last few weeks, I've probably gotten away from the process that makes me really good.”
As has often been the case, Cantillo’s off-speed pitches were especially effective. Six of his eight strikeouts came on batters whiffing on his curve.
“That’s the Joey that we know. I thought he threw the ball excellent,” Vogt said. “You know, one inning can disrupt the whole plan. It's just unfortunate that happened.”
That inning was the bottom of the third, when things went off the rails after the Guardians brought in Franco Aleman to relieve opener Daniel Espino. After getting the first out, Aleman surrendered a home run to Emmanuel Rodriguez, who was making his Major League debut for the Twins.
Aleman then gave up three straight singles to bring home a run before striking out Josh Bell. But Aleman could not get the final out of the inning. Royce Lewis singled home a run before Aleman hit Kaelen Culpepper and Victor Caratini with pitches to make it 4-1.
“He kind of left some pitches out over the middle and pitched himself into some bad counts at times, and obviously the two hit-by-pitches didn't help,” Vogt said of Aleman’s outing. “He just didn’t have his day.”
Cantillo finally got the Guardians off the hook when he retired Austin Martin on a fly ball to center to leave the bases full.
“We did not want to bring him in with traffic, but we kind of were forced to, and here he goes, gets the flyout, and then goes on to give us a really good performance, keeps us in the game the whole way,” said Vogt.
However, the manager remained noncommittal when asked whether Cantillo would continue to pitch behind an opener or go back to starting.
“When it’s his turn to pitch again, he'll pitch, and what we do from there, we're not sure,” Vogt said. “We have to get there.”