Guardians seek clutch hits in series opener vs. Rays

The Cleveland Guardians will look to put one of their more frustrating losses of the season behind them when they begin a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Rays have the best record in the American League and own a two-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.

Cleveland lost 3-1 in 12 innings to the visiting Minnesota Twins on Thursday despite a stellar outing by right-hander Gavin Williams, who struck out 11 and allowed two hits and no walks over seven shutout innings.

The Guardians went 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position and were held scoreless aside from Patrick Bailey's solo homer in the fifth inning.

"Their pitching was just like ours was," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "This was a well-pitched game on both sides, and Gavin was unbelievable. That was about as good as we've seen from him."

Rookie right fielder Chase DeLauter drew a fourth-inning walk to extend his career high-tying on-base streak to 15 games for the Guardians, who split the four-game series.

The Guardians used four relievers on Thursday, including right-hander Colin Holderman, who stranded automatic runners in both the 10th and 11th innings.

"When you can put up a scoreless inning in extra innings, you're doing something, and Holdy did it twice," Vogt said. "Our bullpen has been phenomenal all year. We just weren't able to get that big hit."

Left-hander Joey Cantillo (8-5, 3.74 ERA) will take the mound for the Guardians in the series opener. He allowed four runs over five-plus innings in a 7-1 home loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

Cantillo, 26, has recorded at least seven strikeouts in five of his past six starts.

Cantillo is set to make his second career start against Tampa Bay. He tossed five scoreless innings in a 6-1 home win over the Rays on Sept. 14, 2024.

Tampa Bay will counter with Shane McClanahan (8-6, 3.16 ERA), who allowed six runs (four earned) over five innings during a 6-1 road loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

McClanahan, 29, gave up five hits and three walks while fanning three in his first start since July 8.

"The body felt great. Arm felt great. Obviously, those 10 days (of rest) are great for the body, but really bad for the routine," McClanahan said. "Just looking forward to getting back to normal and having that routine and getting some things cleaned up."

McClanahan will face the Guardians for the first time since allowing two runs over seven innings in a 2-1 loss in an AL wild-card-series game on Oct. 7, 2022. His only regular-season outing vs. Cleveland came that same season, and he permitted five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings during a loss.

Tampa Bay is beginning a nine-game homestand after completing a 3-5 trip against the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays coming out of the All-Star break. The Rays won three straight against Toronto before losing 3-1 on Thursday in the series finale.

"Obviously, you want to win the fourth game and get the sweep, but you've still got to be grateful for the three games that you won," Rays third baseman Junior Caminero said via interpreter Kevin Vera. "We wanted to go home happy, but we're happy going home with the series (victory)."