José Ramírez and Steven Kwan just showed how good the Guardians’ offense can be 

The eighth inning of the Guardians’ 8-6 win over the Angels on Wednesday featured the kind of offense the Guardians have been looking for all season. 

After Steven Kwan opened the inning with a single, José Ramírez stepped up to the plate and lined a two-strike cutter from Ryan Watson into the left field corner to score Kwan with the game-tying run. 

For the past four seasons, Kwan and Ramírez have served as the catalysts for a lot of Guardians wins thanks to their strong production at the top of Cleveland’s lineup.

José Ramírez and Steven Kwan led the Guardians to victory on Tuesday

Even if that hasn’t been the case for most of this season due to Kwan’s early-season struggles and a hamate fracture that’s robbed Ramírez of most of his power, Tuesday’s game was a great step in the right direction for Cleveland’s top two hitters. 

Kwan and Ramírez struck again in the tenth inning when Kwan opened the inning with a single before coming around to score again on Ramírez’s two-run double that staked the Guardians to a lead they never relinquished. 

Ramírez finished the game with a season-high six RBI while Kwan recorded a season-high five hits. They combined for eight of Cleveland’s 13 hits. 

“It felt really reminiscent of years before, where it doesn't matter the lead or that we're behind,” Kwan said of the win, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. “We feel confident in our plans, and didn't try to do too much. I feel like we said that earlier in the year, but didn't actually perform that.” 

While that kind of offensive performance is welcome no matter the situation, it meant a little more on Tuesday considering Gavin Williams allowed five runs in 1 1/3 innings before being pulled. 

The Guardians desperately needed some offense, and the top of their lineup delivered. It started in the fourth inning when Ramírez and Travis Bazzana picked up RBI doubles, and they tied the score at five two innings later on RBI singles from Brayan Rocchio and Kwan. 

Cleveland’s bullpen did a great job keeping things close, as six relievers combined to allow just one run over 8 1/3 innings. 

While Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski and Colin Holderman put together some lights out performances at the end of the game, Matt Festa, Craig Yoho and Logan Allen recorded 5 1/3 solid innings as the first three relievers out of the ‘pen when the Guardians’ offense was clawing its way back into the game. 

Even if Ramírez isn’t having the kind of season he wanted, Tuesday’s outing showed that he’s still one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters. The same can be said for Kwan, who is now hitting .377 since the start of July.

With the win, the Guardians increased their lead over the Rangers for the American League's final Wild Card spot and also kept pace with the White Sox in the American League Central. 

If Kwan and Ramírez are able to keep this up, it shouldn’t be long until the Guardians have a much stronger hold on that postseason spot.

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