Guards Make History With Milestone Win

It’s hard to believe, but an ordinary interleague game in mid-August would mark one of the most significant wins in the Guardians’ history.

On August 15th, the Guards played host to the San Diego Padres. The Padres were the hottest team in baseball at this point, winning six straight games and 16 of their last 20.

Things looked bleak for Cleveland out of the gate, as SP José Cantillo walked the first batter, Padres star RF Fernando Tatis Jr., who would later score the game’s opening run in the same inning. After the rough start, Cantillo would find his rhythm. He would go on to throw five scoreless innings, striking out six along the way.

Cleveland would go on to tie the score in the bottom of the first with recently acquired OF Jo Adell hitting a run-scoring double. After that, the floodgates would open for the Cleveland offense. Similar to Adell, both C Patrick Bailey and CF Steven Kwan would each hit an RBI double, with Bailey’s coming in the second inning and Kwan’s in the fifth. Shortly after his double, a José Ramírez sacrifice fly allowed Kwan to score, extending Cleveland’s lead to 4-1. Cleveland’s final two runs of the game were earned thanks to sloppy defense from the Padres’ infield. During the bottom of the seventh inning, both Kwan and RF Chase Delauter would score on the same play on account of two consecutive errors by San Diego 2B Jake Cronenworth.

That victory marked the 10,000th win in Cleveland Guardians franchise history. The Guards are the eleventh-most winning franchise in MLB history. Only the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have more wins in the American League.

When asked about the franchise’s accomplishment, Manager Stephen Vogt said, “First of all, I want to congratulate the whole organization. That’s an unbelievable number to get to, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

The journey to Cleveland’s 10,000th win began on April 28, 1901. The then Cleveland Blues defeated the Chicago White Sox 10-4, marking the franchise’s first win. Starting pitcher Bill Hart threw a complete game while striking out six. In his best game of that season, journeyman CF Frank Genins went 2-for-5 with a team-high 4 RBI.

Since shortly after the turn of the 20th century, this team has had its fair share of triumphs and failures. We’ve seen star players rise to the occasion; we’ve also seen players fold under pressure. There have been legendary players who we could never forget, and controversial ones that we wish we could. More importantly, we’ve seen the franchise win a total of six American League pennants and two World Series championships.

After picking up the win against the team that originally drafted him back in 2017, José Cantillo shared his thoughts on the franchise’s milestone victory. “It’s cool”, said Cantillo. “That’s a lot of wins. Good franchise and obviously, it’s been around for a long time. So obviously, we want to keep getting some wins and the wins that matter.”