CHICAGO — When Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was asked Friday about the turnaround his ballclub has made over the past month, his first observation was, “It’s been fun to watch them.”
And that’s probably underselling it.
“We’re playing the baseball we’re capable of over the last month, whatever it is,” Vogt said pregame. “I just think it’s a testament to the work that our guys put in, the work that our coaching staff puts in. We try to be as consistent as possible every single day.”
The Guardians, whose season outlook began to look bleak in early July, have been one of the hottest teams in the Majors over the past four weeks, and their red-hot roll continued on Friday. They rode a five-run first inning to beat the White Sox, 9-5, in the opener of a three-game series at Rate Field.
Cleveland improved to 60-55 with the win, marking the first time it has been five games over .500 since the morning of June 8, when it was 33-28. The Guardians have won eight of their past nine games and are 20-7 over their past 27 games. That run has directly followed Cleveland’s 10-game losing streak that spanned June 26-July 6.
Only the Brewers (21-5) have been better since July 7.
More to the point: The Guardians now have just a half-game deficit behind the Yankees (61-55) for the final American League Wild Card spot, following New York’s 5-3 loss to Houston on Friday. Cleveland remains six games back of the AL Central-leading Tigers (67-50).
Of course, there is a lot of season left.
“It’s great,” said first baseman Carlos Santana, whose two-run double in the first opened the scoring, “[but] we don’t think about how the Yankees are playing. We take it one day at a time. We play hard. We try to win as many games as we can.
“We have a month and a half left before the season is over. The mentality is to try to finish strong.”
The one-day-at-a-time mentality aligns with the perspective Vogt offered Friday afternoon when assessing the strong stretch. For all the highs and lows that come with a baseball season, philosophically, Cleveland has preached the importance of keeping a consistent approach every day.
It’s something the team believes is evident given how the past month has gone.
“It’s baseball,” Vogt said. “Everyone goes through tough times, hard times, easy times — or smoother times; there’s no easy times. I think it’s just a testament to ‘believe in your process and stick to it.’ You’re going to make little tweaks or adjustments along the way. But what makes us who we are, we have to continue to focus on that.”
The Guardians started strong on Friday, when Santana’s two-run double got Cleveland going in the first off Chicago starter Aaron Civale. It came on a ground ball that he hit five feet into the ground, but with a 91 mph exit velocity.
The smash took a huge hop over the head of White Sox first baseman Curtis Mead, past second baseman Lenyn Sosa and down the right-field line. Later in the first, C.J. Kayfus — Cleveland’s No. 4 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 65 prospect — crushed a bases-clearing double off a Civale cutter that deflected halfway up the right-field wall. It had a 109.8 mph exit velocity.
“I really blacked out there,” Kayfus said. “… I was trying to be as simple as possible and get a good pitch to hit. He left a cutter down the middle, and I didn’t miss it.”
Santana, who entered the day with a .482 OPS in 17 games since the All-Star break, finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Kayfus went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Over his first six games in the Majors, following his callup from Triple-A Columbus last Saturday, the 23-year-old has gone 6-for-20 (.300).
“C.J. has had great at-bats,” Vogt said. “I really feel like he can manage an at-bat. He’s not getting too big. I really like the way his approach is working. As you get settled into the big leagues, you’re seeing things for the first time and C.J.’s handling everything really well.”
The early lead backed starter Tanner Bibee, who was charged with four runs on five hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings. Three of those tallies came across in the sixth, when Bibee allowed a leadoff double, consecutive one-out walks and a base hit, to end his night.
“I thought he battled,” Vogt said. “It still wasn’t the sharp Tanner that we’re used to seeing, but there was definitely some progress.”
