Guardians News: Gotta Keep Winning

CLEVELAND, OHIO SEPTEMBER 1: Angel Martínez #1 of the Cleveland Guardians hits a fly ball to right center field for a two-run home run in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field on September 1, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland leads 6-1. (Photo by Russell Lee Verlinger/Cleveland Guardians/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Guardians came out on top in a back and forth high scoring thriller to maintain their one game lead in the Central.

class="wp-block-paragraph">After a 40 minute rain delay neither starter could settle in. Walks were being handed out left and right and it was an absolute battle for the first 4 innings.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Guardians would strike first on a 2 run single by Angel Martínez in the first inning with the bases loaded, but the Royals would answer right back after a walk to Bobby Witt Jr and an absolutely scalded RBI double from Jac Caglianone. The Big Rig would avoid giving up and further damage thanks to a baserunning blunder by Caglianone, and a clutch K by The Big Rig.

On the board first.#GuardsBall | #StandGuardpic.twitter.com/T9uzsA00Gr

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 26, 2026In the 2nd inning the Guardians wouldn’t wait long to respond as Austin Hedges would lead off the inning with a solo shot to left center field, making it a 3-1 Guardians lead! KC would not be kept down. Carter Jensen would do the damage for the Royals with a 2 run bomb tying the game at 3 in the bottom half of the inning.

Hedgehogged.#GuardsBall | #StandGuardpic.twitter.com/5akfF61uBI

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 26, 2026After a quiet 3rd inning for both teams, the Guards would get something going in the 4th with a leadoff walk from Hedgey and a single lined up the middle from Brayan Rocchio. Steven Kwan would move both the runners up with a sac bunt, and it would be José Ramírez with the clutch fly ball to right field just deep enough to score Hedgey from 3rd. But the Royals would have a response again in the bottom half. A leadoff walk and a sac bunt would put a runner in scoring position, and that would be the end of the day for The Big Rig (Final line 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K) as Stephen Vogt would go to Tim Herrin to try and finish off the inning. After a stolen base to get the runner to third base it would be Carter Jensen again getting the Royals a sac fly of their own to knot it back up at 4. But the Royals weren’t done yet. With 2 outs Bobby Witt Jr. would single then steal 2nd and score on an RBI single from Jac Caglianone. The Royals, now up 5-4, would go on to run themselves out of the inning on a soft grounder to José where Caglianone got caught a little too far off second after rounding the base.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Guardians would once again have an answer. Jo Adell would lead off with a double, and then it would be David Fry’s turn to be a hero as he absolutely smashed a 2 run bomb to left field, putting the Guardians back on top 6-5. They weren’t done yet. After Bazzana ended up on 2nd on a botched attempt to catch a flyball in right field he got to third on a grounder by Hedgey, and scored on a RBI groundout by Brayan Rocchio.

Gotta get down on Fryday.#GuardsBall | #StandGuardpic.twitter.com/caKb0NVoEa

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 26, 2026Now armed with a 7-5 lead the Guardians bullpen would lock things down. Shawn Armstrong, Daniel Espino, and Erik Sabrowski would combine to pitch the next 3 innings and only give up 1 hit, walking none, and striking out a pair.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Royals would not go quietly. After a lead off single then a spectacular double play on a flyball to deep left field where Kwan and Rocchio combined to double up Michael Massey at first it looked like the Guards were ready to roll into the 9th. But a 2 out single by Kyle Isbel would pave the way for Carter Jensen to crush his second 2 run homer of the game, making it a 7-7 game.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Guardians’ patience would come to their rescue in the 9th when the Royals bullpen lost the ability to throw strikes. The Royals would walk 6 of the first 8 hitters in the inning including 3 with the bases loaded. The Guardians now up 10-7 would get one more clutch 2 run double from Angel Martínez, before turning to Matt Festa to get the final 3 outs of the game.

White Sox fans are gonna hate this lol.#GuardsBall | #StandGuardpic.twitter.com/mch0XDJOho

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 26, 2026Festa had a rocky 9th, but one that was good enough to get the job done. He gave up an ultimately inconsequential 2 out 2 run homer to Salvador Perez then got the final hitter of the game to weakly ground out to first giving us our final score of 12-9.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Guards look to take the series and lower their Magic Number to clinch the division to 1 tomorrow at 7:10 Eastern. It’ll be Tanner Bibee on the mound for the Guards up against Michael Wacha with Kansas City.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Around MLB:

class="wp-block-paragraph">The White Sox handled the Rockies with ease, both the Astros and Rangers lost, and the Phillies are now only one game ahead of the Diamondbacks with two to play for the last wildcard.