Chappie's Grave

The Guardians shook off a two-game losing streak with a beatdown of the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 30, 11-1 at Progressive Field. The win moved the Guardians over .500 at 69-68 and within 3 1/2 games of Chicago in the AL Central race. Joe Ramirez hit his first home run since early June and collected four RBI to lead an offense that totaled 13 hits and scored three runs in three different innings. This came after collecting just three runs in the first two games of the weekend series. Cleveland lost the first two games of the homestand after a 6-0 trip vs. the Rockies and Angels.  Cleveland trailed early 1-0, but Nathaniel Lowe's 2-run home run in the bottom of the first inning gave the Guardians a 3-1 lead, and they never looked back. Chase DeLauter went 4-for-4 at the plate, scored three times and doubled twice; he also made a nice running catch near the wall in right field. During the radio broadcast, it was noted how DeLauter's sore hamstring was being tested. Th...

 The Cleveland Guardians apparently do not like home cooking. Give them the chain restaurant and hotel bed all day, every day. The Guardians again played like they hate playing in their home park and lost to the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, on Aug. 29 in a Saturday matinee. Cleveland jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on an Angel Martinez two-run homer in the third, but some shaky infield defense and a leaky bullpen undid the Guardians, who have now lost two straight after winning seven in a row - six of the wins came on a recently completed trip to Denver and Anaheim. Cleveland fell to 68-68 with the loss and is now 4 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central race. A crowd of 31,509 watched, many clad in replica Bob Feller 1936 jerseys handed out before the game to the first 15,000 in attendance. Cleveland is 31-36 at home this year and has lost 10 of its last 14 at Progressive Field. "There's no explanation for it," Manager Stephen Vogt said of hi...

Tanner Bibee is nowhere near as bad as his record of 5-14. He could sue the Guardians for non-support. In eight of his starts, he has received zero run support. He has posted 17 quality starts, defined as when a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows three or fewer runs. All of that was on display in the 3-0 loss to Kansas City on Aug. 28, in which Bibee went six innings and allowed seven hits and just one earned run. He struck out five and walked two. But the Guardians still lost. And he still lost. 5-14. Wow. For the season, Bibee, in 28 starts, has an ERA of 3.88 and has 128 strikeouts in 162 1/3 innings pitched.  He didn't give up a home run in the loss to KC, but he has been hurt by the gopher ball, having been touched for 26. Surprisingly, Gavin Williams has given up 27 homers. On to the next one. Foster Griffin toes the rubber this afternoon at 4:10 p.m. against Daniel Lynch IV, a 6-foot-6 lefty who is 4-4 with a 2.93 ERA. This is his fourth start of the year.

So much for the seven-game losing streak. The Guardians' offense failed to fire, and the Kansas City Royals got a strong start from Michael Wacha and just enough offense to beat Cleveland, 3-0, on Aug. 28 It was the 13th time this season the Guardians have been shut out, and they dropped to 31-35 at Progressive Field. They actually loaded the bases with two outs, but pinch-hitter Angel Genoa tapped back to reliever Steven Cruz on a 2-0 pitch to end it and send 31,941 home unhappy. Cleveland dropped to 68-67 on the season, and starter Tanner Bibee was saddled with the loss as he dropped to 5-14 on the season. He allowed just one earned run on seven hits, while striking out five and walking two. He did not surrender a home run, which has been one of his major problems in 2026. That and little to no offensive support. See this game as further evidence. The Royals scored their lone run off Bibee in the fifth inning. Bobby Witt Jr. opened the frame with a double. He advanced on a fly ou...

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 offen...

 \Make that five wins in a row for the Guardians. Austin Hedges hit a huge two-run home run, and Parker Messick provided another strong start as the Guardians won their fifth game in a row, 4-2 over the Angels on Aug. 25 in Disneyland, AKA Anaheim. The win moved the Guardians back to the .500 mark at 66-66 and to within 2 1/2 games of the White Sox in the AL Central lead. With the Guardians holding a slim 2-1 lead with two outs in the top of the sixth, Hedges connected for his fifth homer of the year to give Cleveland a 4-1 lead. The win lifted Cleveland back to the .500 mark for the first time since the morning of Aug. 5 when they were 57-57. Hedges is having a career year. Entering the 2026 campaign, he boasted just a career batting average of .185 over 11 seasons. This season he is hitting .270 with an on-base percentage of .338 and a slugging average of .397. The key to the turnaround? “I’ve got a plan, and I commit to it,” Hedges told MLB.com. Messick, the rookie l...

 Chase DeLauter hit not one but two triples and drove in two runs as the Guardians finished off a weekend sweep of the Rockies with a 7-2 win on Aug. 23 at Coors Field. It was Cleveland’s fourth straight win and fifth in six games. DeLauter, the rookie outfielder, tripled in his first at-bat of the contest and drove home Steven Kwan, who opened the game with a base hit, to give the Guardians an early 1-0 lead. Cleveland would collect a total of 12 hits. The top three of the lineup for Cleveland, that being Kwan, DeLauter and Jo Aadell, went 7-for-14 with four runs and four RBI. Lefty Foster Griffin did a five-and-fly, going five innings and getting his 15th win of the year. He allowed two earned runs and struck out five in five innings of work. DeLauter ended up going 3-for-4 with two RBI, scored two runs, and walked. Cleveland (65-66) is 3 1/2 games out of first place in the  AL Central according to MLB.com and was the third wild card team. The marathon that is a...