Guardians red hot after 6-0 road trip

The red-hot Guardians return home tonight to start a three-game series with the equally hot Kansas City Royals (60-75). Cleveland is winners of seven straight and KC has won nine of its last 10. Tanner Bibee (5-13, 3.97 ERA)  takes the mound for Cleveland against Michael Wacha (7-8, 3.97 ERA).

What a road trip for the Guardians. They went from ICU to the penthouse by going 6-0 on a road trip to Denver vs. the Rockies and Anaheim vs. the Angels.
They finished the trek off with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Angels on Aug. 26. It was the Guardians' seventh straight win, and they improved to 68-66 and remained  2 1/2 games behind the White Sox.
Cleveland, in the matinee trip finale, trailed 3-0 before batting back for the win.
Steven Kwan’s ground-rule double plated the tying run in the ninth inning, and Travis Bazzana’s sac fly drove in what turned out to be the game-winning RBI.
Kwan transformed into an offensive sparkplug beginning in July and has led an offensive resurgence for a team that had struggled mightily to score runs before this road trip. On their most recent homestand, they were shut out twice.
Kwan hit .414 on the trip, including a 5-for-5 night in the 8-6 win in 10 innings on Aug. 25. Kwan, who had two hits in the Aug. 26 win, has reached base in 49 of his last 52 games and is hitting .392 in that streak.
That Aug. 25 game will also be known as the Jose Game. Jose Ramirez hit three doubles in the game and drove in the winning runs in the top of the 10th with a two-run double. Cleveland trailed 5-0 in that game after just two innings before coming back to win it.
In the Aug. 26 win, Joey Cantillo walked seven and had a throwing error, and the Guardians still won. Cleveland.com’s Guardians beatwriter and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame Paul Hoynes used it as evidence to prove how hot the Guardians were playing. Hoynes also took note the Guardians had gone 6-0 against two of the worst teams in baseball and called it the “soft underbelly of the Guardians’ schedule.
Kwan, who had two hits in the Aug. 26 win, has reached base in 49 of his last 52 games and is hitting .392 in that streak.
Joey Cantillo was not just walks and errors in his Aug. 26 no-decision. He gave the Guardians length on a day that its bullpen was running on fumes. He ended up giving up just two hits and struck out one and gave up just two earned runs over six innings. Erik Sabrowski, the final of three Cleveland relievers, pitched the ninth and picked up his first save of the year. Cleveland’s All-Star closer Cade Smith recorded saves in three of Cleveland’s previous games and was unavailable to pitch.

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