Guardians not good enough, drop final two games to Phillies

After winning in convincing fashion on Friday night, it seemed like the Cleveland Guardians had a really good chance of winning their three-game set against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. All they needed to do was win one of their final two games, and they would accomplish exactly that. However, things did not go their way, as the Guardians were not able to take advantage of the golden opportunity that was right in front of them.

Cleveland's offense was non-existent after Friday night's 6-0 win over Philadelphia. The Guardians managed to score one run the rest of the weekend, with their seven hits in those games being less than the nine they managed in the opening game of the series. Failing to match their eight-inning hit total in their next two games is completely unacceptable, and it is no wonder the weekend finished up in the manner it did when taking that into account.

Making matters worse is that the Guardians wasted two strong starts from their pitchers on Saturday and Sunday. Tanner Bibee allowed one run on five hits in 7 innings on Saturday, but Cleveland would go on to lose 7-1 after the bullpen was called into action. Luis Ortiz would follow up Bibee with 6 innings of one-run baseball, with four hits and two walks allowed while striking out nine. Unfortunately, Cleveland failed to score a single run in the contest, losing 3-0 on Sunday night.

Even though the Guardians went 1-2 this past weekend, dropping their record on the year to 23-17, they are still only 2.5 games back of the American League Central-leading Detroit Tigers (26-15). Cleveland has one fewer win than the Royals (24-18), but they hold an edge over Kansas City in the winning percentage department (.575-.571), allowing them to have sole ownership of second place in the AL Central for the time being.

Hopefully, the Guardians will be more successful in their upcoming series against the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing them to get closer to first-place Detroit and get further away from third-place Kansas City.