Guardians put remarkable pitching record in the hands of their unlikeliest ace

While the Guardians have long been regarded as one of MLB’s best at developing starting pitching, we’ve never seen them go on the run they’re on right now.

After Tanner Bibee allowed just one run over six innings in Cleveland’s’ win over the Tigers last night, Guardians pitchers have now allowed two runs or fewer in 19 straight games, which is the longest streak since the 2019 Rays. 

And they have a chance to tie the MLB record (currently held by the 1917 White Sox) on Thursday when Parker Messick takes the mound in the series finale against the Tigers. 

Imagine telling someone that in May. 

Parker Messick has a chance to make history for the Guardians today

Messick taking the mound for a potential record-setting (and postseason-clinching) game is a personification of what a wild season it’s been for the Guardians. 

While he wasn’t on most fan’s' radar in March, the rookie starting pitcher has done nothing but shove since being called up in the middle of August. In total, Messick has a 2.08 ERA in 34 2/3 innings since joining the Guardians, and was recently named Cleveland’s minor leaguer of the year by Baseball America. 

He’s also done his part in the Guardians’ record-setting streak, as he’s tossed two quality starts and allowed just four runs. 

In a bit of irony, Cleveland’s record-setting run started against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 5 when Gavin Williams allowed just one run in seven innings at George M. Steinbrenner Field. It also coincided with Cleveland switching over to a six-man rotation, which seemingly helped every Guardians starter reach a new level. 

Tanner Bibee has a 1.30 ERA across four starts in that span and tossed a shutout against the White Sox, Slade Cecconi carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Logan Allen has allowed just one run in 13 innings. 

And then there’s Messick, who has aced his first major league test and seems like a lock to make next year’s rotation. Even though Messick doesn’t have enough innings to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboard, he’d be in the top percentile in walk rate (3.5%), barrel rate (3.8%) and hard-hit rate (29.2%). 

He’s the classic Guardians pitcher in that he has incredible command that makes all of his pitches play even better. You’ll never be awestruck by his fastball, but his ability to paint the corners and miss the barrel is what evaluators dream about. 

He’ll have his work cut out for him with a Tigers team that’s circling the drain after suffering back-breaking losses to the Guardians in the first two games of the series this week. 

Earlier this year, Messick was in Triple-A trying to figure out International League batters. Now he’s taking the mound in one of the Guardians’ biggest regular season games in recent memory. Just like how the front office drew it up.