Joey Cantillo dominates White Sox for first major league win

Up to this point in his young career, Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Joey Cantillo has had a rough go of things. Facing playoff contender after playoff contender in his first five appearances, Cantillo would give up 16 runs in 18.2 innings to some of the most competitive teams in baseball. The overall numbers were not great, and there was somewhat of a growing concern about his viability as a major league starter despite being repeatedly thrown to the wolves. But that would all change on Monday night in Chicago.

Getting his first major league start since August 21st and making his first appearance since August 26th, Cantillo would face the White Sox in a matchup that was significantly more pitcher-friendly than any of his previous outings. The 24-year-old left-hander would allow just one run on two hits while striking out 10 and walking none in 7 innings. Cantillo was dealing from the start, even sending the first 20 batters he faced back to the dugout before allowing an Andrew Benintendi single with two outs in the 7th to break up his Perfect Game bid. Benintendi would score Chicago's only run in the contest on an Andrew Vaughan RBI single.

This was the type of outing the Guardians were waiting to see from Cantillo. Absolute domination of a clearly inferior opponent justifying the organization's previous decisions to call him up for spot starts. While no one was expecting him to take a Perfect Game into the 7th inning, shutting down the worst team in the sport was something everyone was hoping for.

Now, is it fair to expect Cantillo to dominate in his future outings? Not necessarily. As previously noted, Cantillo has struggled against playoff contenders in previous appearances, which shows he is not quite ready to make that step yet. However, Monday's start in Chicago is a nice stepping stone to what could hopefully be a key member of Cleveland's rotation down the line.