The Guardians lost 1-0 but didn't lose ground — here's how Cleveland kept its AL Central lead intact heading into Thursday

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Thursday’s episode of the Cleveland Baseball Tall Podcast centers on Cleveland’s 1-0 loss at Fenway Park that ultimately did no damage in the AL Central race because the White Sox also lost. Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga discuss the Guardians’ division magic number dropping to 4 and their postseason clinching number reaching 1, meaning Cleveland can secure a playoff spot Thursday with a win or losses by Texas or Houston. They break down Foster Griffin’s six innings of one-run baseball, why his ability to escape trouble made it his best start since joining Cleveland, and what it could mean for his postseason role. They also examine the bizarre 17-hit game in which every hit was a single, Sonny Gray’s continued success against Cleveland, the Guardians’ recent offensive struggles and the importance of the starting pitching keeping them in games. Finally, they look ahead to Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo in Thursday’s series finale and what Cleveland needs to do with four games remaining to finish the job in both the postseason and AL Central races. 4 NE Ohio athletes inducted into Greater Cleveland Sports HOF (photos)As the playoffs approach, are the Guardians being taken for granted? – Terry PlutoGuardians fall to Red Sox 1-0 despite strong start by Foster Griffin, but keep division leadRead the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s an AI-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.Podcast TranscriptJoe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, you’ve been around long enough to pretty much see everything in baseball, and I don’t think you’ve seen very many one nothing games at Fenway Park. Wednesday had to be a, a rarity for you there. The Guardians lose one nothing to the, to the Red Sox, but they don’t lose any ground in the AL Central chase. The, the White Sox lose to the Royals in Kansas City and really, you know, Wednesday night’s game was maybe kind of a wake up call. Hey, these, these last four games here, the offense needs to, to, to perform at the level that it had been coming in the last couple of weeks.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, the offense has really played well, hit well over the last, what, 20, 25 games at least since mid, you know, late, late August. And they just, you know, they just didn’t have it last night. Sonny Gray pitched very, very well. They had their chances, but not really didn’t have that many chances. And you know, we’re talking to Travis Bazzana after the game and he said it seems like everybody’s either winning or losing on the same day, so no one can really break free in this race either for the wild card or, or for division. The Guardians were fortunate that the White Sox lost last night and they still hold that one game lead.Joe Noga: Yeah, the magic number for the division now down to four. Four. Magic number of four. With four games remaining, the magic number to clinch a playoff spot is down to one. So the Guardians with a win on Thursday night, they know they’re in, they’re popping bottles in the, in, in the, in the post game. But they might have a clue to that beforehand. The loss by the Rangers. They’re playing the Mets this afternoon or later on tonight. Astros take on the. The A’s. Lost by either one of those teams guarantees the, the Guardians are in the postseason so they can back in that way or, or just go ahead and go out there and win it themselves tonight. I think they would probably prefer to do that. But you know, just back to last night’s game Wednesday. It was a, a missed opportunity to gain some to, to, you know, separate from the White Sox. But it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I mean, it could have been a lot worse.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I mean, if, obviously if the White Sox beat Kansas City, you know, it’s, it’s a, it’s tied right now. The two times you’re tied, they hold the tiebreaker and the Whole these next four games, you know, that, that, that adds added importance, tension and pressure to that, the next four games. So, yeah, they caught a break there and it wasn’t like they played poorly, Joe. I think they just got beat by a very, very good pitcher who was on a roll this season. That was his eight. Sonny Gray’s 18th win, second against Cleveland this season. I think they’ve scored one run against him in 10 innings over two starts. He has made 22 starts against Cleveland in his career. The most, the most starts he has against any team and he’s nine and five against them. So, you know, if it happens that Boston and Cleveland somehow get to the. Well, if they meet in the later, later this, in the weeks to come, you don’t want to see Sonny Gray on the mound.Joe Noga: He, he always seems to, to have that sort of mystical sort of hold over the Guardians, the movement on his pitches. Stephen, Stephen Vogt was talking about in, in his post game pitch into four quadrants and crisscrossing and all that kind of stuff. Stephen Vogt has caught Sonny Gray as a, as a catcher, you know, about as much as anybody in baseball and, and is very familiar with him as a pitcher. I, I think, you know, it’s got to be, you know, just an interesting situation for Vote going up against a guy who, who was on the mound a lot when he was behind the plate. So, yeah, a lot of familiarity there. But, you know, Vote said after the game he sort of framed everything in the right context. He said, you know, we know we control our destiny still. So I like where we are. We’ve got four games left and we have a chance to get in. That’s all you can ask for. So Vote knows that everything is in front of them in terms of if they keep winning. It all takes care of itself. They don’t need to do a lot of scoreboard gymnastics to win the division. They just, they win the games in front of them and that’s good enough. You know, I guess, you know, heading into Thursday’s action with the White Sox playing early, does that help or does that, that make things more complicated? No, they’ll know before they take the field. The Guardians will. What Chicago has done today and you know that whether or not winning can give them an extra game in the, in the, in the division chase.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, it’s, it all depends, I think, on the personality of the players involved. You know, you know, they’ll be watching that game on TV if it’s, if, you know, if they’re not out in the field taking BP or warming up. You know, that’s the way it usually works. You know, you watch the other team, you see, you see what happens and then go out and play your game. But does it add tension? I. I don’t know. I think this whole, this whole month, this whole, you know, this whole stretch drive has been all about the same thing. It get. It gets a little heavier at this point of the season, but I think Cleveland has handled it well. And a win or lose, Joe, they know they’ve got to win tonight. If it would be their best outcome is to win tonight. You win tonight, you’re in one way or the other, and then you. You can take care of your own business. Yeah.Joe Noga: And that leads us to the. The mound tonight. It’s it. It’s Joey Cantillo as the Bulk guy. Daniel Espino again going to open for the Guardians. This is a sort of a process, a situation that’s. We. We’ve seen flashes from Espino that he can handle this, that it could be a good way to. To be effective. We’ve, we’ve really liked what we’ve seen out of Joey Cantillo the last couple of times he’s come out of the bullpen and been the bulk guy. What are you expecting to see out of these gu Mound tonight against Boston?Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, I’m still kind of scratching my head over this. You know, I get, I guess, you know, having Espino be the opener, you know, twice earlier. Earlier, you know, earlier in the month for Cantillo. But Cantillo’s pitched so well in that role. It looks like whatever control problems, you know, that he was dealing with are past him. He’s what I think he’s thrown 10 scoreless innings in the two starts, the two appearances where he’s come out of the bullpen, so why not let him start? But, you know, we’ll see goes Hispino has had one good opening, one bad opening. I just, you know, you just hate to see him give up two or three runs in the first inning or two. And that really put the Guardians behind the eight ball and force them to play from behind. But if he gets through the first inning, Joe score with a clean inning. I think you go to Cantillo as soon as you can and take your chances from there. But obviously, you know, they like this setup. Maybe Cantillo doesn’t have to worry too much, you know, about preparing for the start. He just, you know, kind of. He knows when he’s coming in and he just, you know, he just does it. So I’m not sure about what the thinking is behind using the opener and having Cantillo back him up.Joe Noga: Yeah, and I think maybe the, the wisdom behind that is it’s, it’s more about Cantillo than it is about Espino. I think getting him comfortable, getting him in that routine, and it’s worked twice so far, so you need it in this sort of the biggest moment of the season so far. You’re going to keep things the same and just, just go with it until Joey isn’t as effective in that role. So we’re going to see Joey Cantillo pitch if the Guardians make it to the postseason, we’re going to see him pitch in probably a number of different roles. Who knows if one of them is going to be as a starter or not. But you might need him at some point opening a, or pitching in a wild card game next week. And we don’t know if it’ll be as a starter or as a bulk reliever. So, you know, just keep an eye on what Joey Cantilla does today. If it works again, it’s sort of an endorsement for, hey, you know, keep things the same way they are. Yeah.Paul Hoynes: If it ain’t. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.Joe Noga: Ain’t broke, don’t fix it Right. Come on. What are you talking about, Hoynsi? Thursday there is a. The Mets play the Rangers at 235 and the. The White Sox play the Royals, I believe, at 2:10 at Kaufman Stadium. So, you know, the schedule does help the Guardians in terms of knowing they’ll have a lot of information to work with, I guess, before they take the mound tonight in, in Boston. What do you expect to see out of the. The Red Sox last night? Saddan Rafaela makes a brilliant diving catch. The first batter of the game. It’s a base hit and his first at bat of the game then has to leave. You know, the, the first game of this series, the Red Sox maybe didn’t put their a lineup out there on the field. A couple of guys, including William Contreras, you know, on the, on the bench. Do you expect to see the guys who have been resting or not playing for Boston in, in Thursday’s series finale?Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, I would think so, Joe. I mean, you know, they’ve already clinched. You know, they can handle their players as they see fit. But, you know, you know, Trevor Story was in the lineup last night and you said, you know, Rafaela was, was in there but then unfortunately had to leave the game, what, in the second inning with a hamstring problem. And he had just come off the il for, for that game. So, you know, that kind of, that’s a setback for them, I’m sure, you know, in their postseason plans. Duran came in and Duran was replaced him and Duran was the guy that scored the only run in the game. So, you know, the, the White Sox had some, some mojo on their side last night.Joe Noga: Either way, tonight could be a night where the Guardians clinch the post. You know, I, I don’t know if you packed your, your ski goggles for the post game celebration Hoyncy, but chance that you get showered in champagne at some point. You know, a lot of, a lot of things have to happen before the game, but you know, really nothing changes if they do clinch the the postseason spot because they’re still alive for the division and they still have to keep, keep winning until Chicago basically takes itself out of contention.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that’s the key. You know, if, if you’re, you know, weighing the two, you know, making a postseason is great, you get your foot in the door, but your goal, if you’re the Guardian, should be to win that division and, you know, win out. Hopefully you win out, you have no problem with, you know, win the next four. You win the division, you get the buy, you’re able to set up your rotation as you want and you can. I think you’d open at home, right, Joe? I think, yeah.Joe Noga: You would. Yeah.Paul Hoynes: Yeah.Joe Noga: Two games. First two games would be at home.Paul Hoynes: Yeah. So, you know, and, but if you, if you don’t, if, if the, the division goes to Chicago, then these three games again coming up against the Royals, you got to throw your best guys, your best starters out there for that three game series. And it, you know, it, you, you might be scrambling in the wild card to put your rotation together.Joe Noga: Yeah, that’s. You might see a situation where a Foster Griffin or a Joey Cantillo might have to start the, the wild card series because you’ve used Tanner Bybey, Gavin Williams and Parker Messick and you’ve started those guys down the stretch hoping to win the division. But if that doesn’t come through, at least you’ll be in, in that way. Foster Griffin last night really finally looked like the guy that the, the Guardians were, were paying for at the, at the trade deadline. Six innings, 10 hits allowed, one earned run, seven strikeouts, no walks. The 10 hits in one run, you know, really never happens at Fenway park. Especially at Fenway park. You know, 10 hits, you’re thinking a couple of those got over the monster or, you know, some runs were being scored. A one nothing game and the combined 17 hits between the two teams, you know, vote, vote said it, he said it. That’s as good as we’ve seen Foster since he’s been with us. And he wasn’t overpowering. He pounded the strike zone and didn’t let you know, any base hits or leadoff hits really compound in anything, which is. We’ve seen the, the wheels come off the cart with this guy in, in a couple of outings in, in, in, in late August and September there. So, you know, what’d you think of Foster Griffin last night? And does it give you any hope for Foster Griffith if he’s pitching any more down the stretch?Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I thought he pitched really well, Joe. He was like Houdini, man. He stranded like what, nine, ten runners in, in his six innings of work. He compared it a lot to the Baltimore start where he had that disastrous inning, but nobody really hit the ball hard. And he said it was kind of the same thing last night against the Red Sox. The exit Velo was very low off of, you know, most of the hits he gave up. But this time, unlike Boston, Baltimore, he was able to get key outs when he needed them. And, you know, he struck out seven guys too, as well. I thought he, you know, he really showed some moxie. That was his first time at Fenway, first time facing the Red Sox. And I would think, Joe, you know, if, if whatever role they need him in, I think he would, he would be available. You know, he would definitely, you know, they would definitely have to look at him, you know, come in these last four games or, you know, somewhere in the postseason that, that he could, he would get, he might, he could easily get another start here.Joe Noga: Yeah, if you get in a situation where you’re in the wild card game and you’ve burned through Williams and Messick at the, the end of the regular season, you really don’t feel terrible giving the ball to Parker or to Foster Griffith now to start game one of a wild card series and, you know, hopefully maybe bring back Tanner Bybey or Gavin Williams on short rest in the rest of that series. So. But yeah, just this is the Foster Griffith that Cleveland traded for, you know, up and down starts, including that one you mentioned about in Baltimore. But Wednesday showed why Cleveland really believed that this rotation down the stretch can, can help them. You know, like you said Griffith said about playing in Fenway, he said, you know, this is what you Play for late in September, meaningful games in Fenway park against a really good team. So, you know, he understood and he. He understands the. The gravity of the. Of the moment. So a really good just night all around for Foster Griffith. So yeah, just. I want to take a second to dive a little deeper about this. This weird stat line, you know, that we really never see these. The 17 hits combined in the game, zero extra base hits. So all signals horns. Have you ever seen anything like that?Paul Hoynes: I don’t know, Joe. I mean, especially. I’m sure I have. I’m sure there’s been a lot of games, but none. That, none of. With this. This important, with this much riding on it. You know, 10 hits. Griffin gets up 10 hits all singles. The Guardians get seven hits all singles. You know, Votes said it was a windy night, so, you know, everything was getting knocked down that was in the air, but it didn’t seem like there were a lot of hard hit balls by either team. So it was, it was really kind of a rare night at Fenway where, you know, which is, you know, a ballpark that invites offensive. Offensive achievements.Joe Noga: Yeah, one run lead in Fenway park is, is sort of never safe. And it’s a credit to the pitching. Vote really did credit the both starting pitchers. He credited Foster Griffith, but you know, his, his old teammate Sonny Gray, he gave, you know, he told. He said Sonny Gray just knows how to pitch. And, and that was the case, you know, and, and. And Vote realized, I think, you know, moving his, his outfit that. That the, the lack of offense last night had to do with the guys who were throwing the ball and not necessarily any what any of the guys who were hitting the ball could do. So we talked at the beginning of this series about Cleveland finding ways to win despite going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. You know, they got shut out Wednesday. That, that, that, you know, that really didn’t apply there. So what can they do here in this series finale to. To sort of just, you know, get some runs on the board? Because that’s really what they need.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think they just got to play their. Their style of baseball, Joe, that, that they’ve been, you know, so good at over the last month or so. You know, they have to, you know, put guys on base. They have to keep the pressure on the defense. Somebody has to get a big hit or two. They don’t necessarily have to hit the ball out of the park. They’ve shown that. They’ve shown they can win without doing that. But, you know, in September What? They’ve hit 25 home runs, so, you know, they could use the long ball tonight, too, if the. If, you know, if the opposing pitcher and the weather cooperate because the monster is looming right there, so it’s got to be tempting. You know, I know. You know, I got a. I got some emails this morning and last night about why vote didn’t start Angel Martinez, and I think you. You kind of hit on. And he started up Petey Halpin in center and move Quan to a left field. I think, you know, Martinez has had some problems that first game playing in left field with the monster right behind him. He smacked into the wall hard. And you’ve got to play out there for a while, Joe, to really get a feel for that. Quan is. Has always played the monster well, and I think that’s why he was out in left field and helping, you know, can cover a lot of ground in center field in that big center field. And, you know, Quan made a great throw home. Just was just a tad off on the only run that scored. So, you know, I think, you know, defense has to play a role when, when the guardians are playing and with the offensively, you know, they’re not a, you know, they. They just have to grind out some runs here. They have to, you know, create some scoring opportunities and take advantage of it.Joe Noga: Yeah, and, and don’t overlook what the starting pitching has done. You know, the first two starters for this series for Cleveland, Parker Messick went five innings and only allowed one run on Tuesday, and Griffin goes six and allows one run on Wednesday. The starting pitching is getting the job done. The bullpen was solid. You know, Matt Festa was really good last night. I thought Tim Heron as well. So, you know, 11 innings, two runs allowed by the starters and two starts here in. At just a critical time in the. In the season. The starting rotation is getting, Getting the job done. And you know, Cleveland, you know, one, you know, one of those games, split those games, but just didn’t, you know, produce enough at the plate. So if you’re looking for, you know, hope for. For what it might be like in October with the starting pitching, the way they’re going right now, that’s. That’s pretty good. This team spent, you know, so much of September needing its pitching staff to. To keep games in striking distance, and that’s. That’s exactly what they got on Wednesday, and it has to make them feel pretty good.Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, there’s one swing away, basically, you know, from tying the game or taking a lead.Joe Noga: Story of the season isn’t it, Oinsey?Paul Hoynes: Yeah, exactly. I mean, so you lose one to nothing. That’s the 16th time they’ve been shut out. It’s. It’s crazy. It’s got to be. I think they were among the, the league leader, the MLB leaders in those games. But, you know, you wouldn’t necessarily call this a great offense, but you wouldn’t call it a bad offense either. And to be shut out for 16 games, it’s kind of like, it’s mind blowing.Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s definitely. So here’s three things we’re, we’re looking for on Thursday early scoreboard, watching Texas Mets and White Sox Roya that, you know, those, those games could change the landscape of, of this postseason race. Before Cleveland even takes the field, you got to be looking at can the offense rebound? You know, Fenway is a place where, where runs are aplenty. So go out there and take advantage of that if they can, regardless of, of how well the, the starter pitches to today. The, you know, Espino and, and Cantillo and can they get the job done themselves? Can they, can they go out there and, and grab a, a lead and sort of pull away from the White Sox here if they, if they get an opportunity to do so. A win and they’re in basically tonight. So Wednesday was tough. It was a one nothing loss, 17 singles, no extra base hits, even though it was Foster Griffin’s best start as a guardian. But ultimately they didn’t lose any ground in the AL Central. And that’s a good thing. Despite losing, Cleveland wakes up with, you know, on Thursday essentially where they were at the beginning of the week. So. And, you know, a day closer to the postseason, 158 games down. Hoyns, you know, we’re getting closer. Four games left. Division. Magic number is four. Magic number is one. You know, what are your plans for tonight?Paul Hoynes: No, Joe, I’m wearing a. I’ve got, I got my baseball hat on, so I wish I had brought an extra change of clothes. If, if they, if they, if they, if they clinch tonight and there’s too much champagne and beer spraying, but I, you know, work the edges and those things. I try to stay out of the way and hopefully I don’t get drenched.Joe Noga: I’ll. We’ll see. We’ll see if they’re popping corks tonight and we’ll hear about it tomorrow on the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. Hoinsy. We’ll, we’ll check in with you then.Paul Hoynes: Good deal, Joe.This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff.