As the MLB playoff race tightens, the Cleveland Guardians are heating up at the perfect time. After last night's win versus the Kansas City Royals, the Guardians have won five straight, the longest current streak in the league.
In addition to the contributions of Jose Ramirez who homered again last night, the Guardians have been led by their pitching staff.
Ramirez is on fire to begin September, batting .407 with eight RBIs and two home runs in his last seven games. Ramirez is now up to 28 home runs on the year to go along with 76 RBIs and 37 stolen bases.
As for the pitching, including yesterday's shutout, Cleveland has surrendered two runs or fewer in six of their last seven games.
Amid their win streak, Guardians' starters have pitched a minimum of six innings, including two straight games where their starters have gone eight innings. Through these five starts, this adds up to 35 2/3 innings out of 45 innings pitched in the last five games — 78 percent.
That kind of workload from the rotation is a recipe for success and a big boost for the Cleveland bullpen.
Now, Cleveland, a team that spent much of the season outside of the playoff picture, find themselves in striking distance as October looms.
The Guardians are 2 1/2 games back of the final American League wild-card spot with 18 games to play. To close the season, they’ll face all of their AL Central rivals as well as the Texas Rangers, who sit one game ahead of Cleveland in the wild-card chase.