Perhaps a much-needed, spirited victory can spark the Cleveland Guardians to start streaking in a positive direction.
For that to happen, however, the Guardians likely will need to find rare home success against right-hander Pablo Lopez when they continue their four-game set with the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday evening.
After being outscored 31-7 during a three-game losing streak and falling 11-1 in Monday’s series opener, the Guardians had just enough to pull out a 2-1 victory on Tuesday. Tanner Bibee allowed one run over seven strong innings, and Kyle Manzardo opened the ninth with a walk-off homer for Cleveland, which improved to 4-4 on its 10-game homestand.
“For us to be able to bounce back (Tuesday), that’s huge,” said Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor, who snapped a 1-for-17 slump with a solo homer Tuesday.
Although Cleveland is batting just .228 with a .279 on-base percentage during its current 2-4 stretch, Tuesday’s victory could be what the club needs to ignite some extended success.
“We’re always working, all of our guys,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’re always working.”
The Guardians again might have their work cut out for them against Lopez (2-1, 2.08 ERA), who has been extremely strong in three career outings at Cleveland, going 2-0 with a 1.45 ERA. All three were quality starts for the right-hander, who’s off to a solid beginning in 2025 despite missing time with a hamstring issue.
Overall against Cleveland, Lopez is 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA in six appearances. He came off the injured list Friday and allowed two runs, two walks, five hits and struck out six in five innings of Minnesota’s 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
“I think he had a good start,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He had to work, but he made a lot of good pitches. … A solid start for him returning.”
Though Lopez has shined in Cleveland, Guardians stars Jose Ramirez and Steve Kwan are a combined 14-for-33 (.424) against him. Kwan’s 11-game hitting streak ended Tuesday, but he’s still batting .333 for the season.
Teammate Angel Martinez, also batting .333 — in just 15 games this season — is 3-for-4 with a double versus Lopez.
Scheduled Cleveland starter Luis Ortiz (2-3, 5.96 ERA) will to rebound after he allowed four runs, five hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings of a 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees last Wednesday.
“Luis, his command was a little off, again,” Vogt said. “It wasn’t the best version of Luis.”
This will be Ortiz’s first start versus Minnesota, but he pitched 4 1/3 solid innings of relief during a 4-0 victory over the Twins while with Pittsburgh last season.
Minnesota totaled 32 runs during its season-high four-game winning streak that ended Tuesday. The Twins managed just seven hits Tuesday after rapping out a season-high 17 one night earlier.
Though the Twins as a team were cooled off at the plate Tuesday, Ty France had three hits, including a solo homer. France is 8-for-16 with six RBIs, four runs scored and three doubles over the last four games.
However, he’s 0-for-3 against Ortiz.
–Field Level Media
