Takeaways From Cleveland Guardians Series Loss To Braves

The Guardians only scored a total of five runs in their three-game set against the Braves, with four of those runs coming in innings three and four during the series finale. 

At times over the weekend, Cleveland’s plate approach and output were reminiscent of the Guardians’ offense during their 10-game losing streak in June. 

This series loss to the Braves certainly makes Cleveland’s road to the playoffs much more difficult. If the Guardians are hoping to go on a run over the final six weeks of the season, the offense can’t look like it did against the Braves over the weekend. 

Steven Kwan Snaps Out Of Slump

As a team, the Guardians' offense wasn’t great against the Braves. However, it wasn’t all negative on the offensive end of things. There is one player who showed some encouraging signs at the plate, and that’s Steven Kwan, who seemingly snapped out of his two-week slump.

Outside of an ill-advised bunt attempt in a key spot in the series finale, Kwan had a solid series at the plate. He recorded three mult-hit games for a batting average of .500 (6-for-12) and only struck out once.

Even including the series against the Braves, Kwan is hitting .248 with a .360 slugging percentage over the last month. 

If the Guardians still want to make a playoff run this season, they’ll need more of the Kwan that showed up against Atlanta.

Cleveland’s Pitching Staff Struggles

As rough as a series this was for Cleveland’s bats, it wasn’t much better for the pitching staff.

Cleveland’s starting pitchers of Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi, and Logan Allen combined to pitch just 14.1 innings and allowed 19 hits and eight earned runs. 

Because of how much the Guardians were forced to rely on their pitching staff, not just against the Braves, but against the Miami Marlins in the previous series, Cleveland was forced to make a roster move on Sunday, bringing back Tim Herrin to the big-league level. 

The offense hasn’t been Cleveland’s strength all season; it’s been the pitching. However, if the Guardians’ arms start to struggle on a consistent basis, Cleveland could see their playoff hopes start to slip away, too. 

The Guardians desperately need an ace-like start from Gavin Williams on Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks to simply give the bullpen some rest. 

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