The Cleveland Guardians travel to Chicago to take on their division rivals, the White Sox, in a weekend series to kick off the official second half of the 2022 MLB season. Cleveland and Chicago are both very much in the hunt for the AL Central Division title with both teams trailing first-place Minnesota by two and three games respectively. The pitching matchup for Friday will be a pair of right-handers as Cal Quantrill (6-5, 3.75) of the Guardians takes on Lucas Giolito (6-5, 4.69) of the White Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 810pm EST.
The Cleveland Guardians have been one of the pleasant surprises of the first half of the 2022 season. Picked by most to finish in the bottom third of the AL Central, Cleveland is just two games in back of Minnesota for first-place and getting positive contributions from all over a lineup thought to be one of the worst in the division. Superstar Jose Ramirez, of course, paces the Guardians with 19 home runs and an American League leading 75 RBI. He also has 190 total bases and has a team-leading 3.9 WAR thus far. Other contributors include all-star 2B Andres Gimenez who has doubled his career-high with 10 home runs already and is second on the team in WAR and 3rd in total bases. Lastly, the Guardians have gotten excellent production from first baseman Josh Naylor with 13 home runs and 47 RBI. Cleveland finished the first half going 6-4 in their last ten games to close the gap to just 2 games.
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— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 19, 2022
While the Guardians came into the season assuming their starting rotation would be the team's biggest asset, the bullpen has been a pleasant surprise thus far. Closer Emmanuel Clase earned his first all-star nod with a stingy 1.41 ERA to go along with 19 saves. In addition, Clase has a struck out 41 batters in 36 innings and has a 0.76 WHIP. Overall, the Guardians are 11th in bullpen ERA at 3.66 over the course of the first half of the season. On the mound on Friday night will be righty Cal Quantrill. Quantrill has made 17 starts this season and is second on the team in wins and quality starts. Quantrill is not a strikeout pitcher with just 63 strikeouts in over 100 innings work. Over 48% of Quantrill's outs this season have been via the fly ball. As a result, he can be susceptible to the long ball, allowing 12 so far this season but just two in his last three starts.