Brayan Rocchio drives in 4 as Guardians defeat Royals 7-1

Yes, you are reading this correctly. Brayan Rocchio was the driving force at the plate in the Cleveland Guardians 7-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday,

Rocchio finished the contest with one of the more interesting stat lines one will ever see, going 1-1 with four RBI, two runs scored, and a walk. The hit from Rocchio was nothing to scoff at either rather than being the usual unexciting single, it was a two-run homer for Cleveland's shortstop. Funny enough, Rocchio's seventh long ball of the season came after a failed bunt attempt. In addition to his home run, Rocchio got the scoring started in the 2nd inning with a sacrifice fly and added one more with a bases-loaded walk in the 8th.

Of all the players to be the leading Cleveland in the RBI department in any given game, Rocchio is probably at or near the bottom of the list. Tuesday's contest was only Rocchio's sixth game this season featuring more than one run driven in and just the 23rd occasion in 123 games in which an RBI was recorded. Expecting Rocchio to drive in a run, much less multiple, is something no one would feel comfortable betting on.

Even though Rocchio has been mostly underwhelming at the plate this season, there has been a recent uptick in performance that must be mentioned. Over his last 14 games (11 starts), Rocchio is slashing .270/.349/.432, a much-improved line over his season number of .211/.298/.319. While this is a small sample size, all things considered, it seems like Rocchio is proving capable of handling shortstop duties for the rest of the season. This position has mostly been a black hole of disappointment for the Guardians this year, with most of the value accumulated coming defensively, but if Rocchio is settling somewhere between his season average and what he has done since August 20th, that could be a difference-maker for Cleveland, not only for the remainder of the regular season but the postseason as well.