We have a big AL Central showdown between the Cleveland Guardians (79-67) and the Chicago White Sox (76-71) on Tuesday night from Guaranteed Rate Field at 8:10pmET.
The White Sox were idle on Monday, while the Guardians crushed Minnesota 11-4.
Cleveland leads the AL Central by four games over Chicago. In terms of the wild card race, the White Sox are five games out of the last spot with 15 games left for the ChiSox.
This is a matchup of right-handers as Aaron Civale (2-6, 5.40 ERA) is expected to face Dylan Cease (14-7, 2.16 ERA).
Cleveland just took four of five games from the Twins to pretty much knock Minnesota out of the playoff race as they fell to 73-74. The bats carried them on Monday afternoon as Josh Naylor and Amed Rosario both hit three-run home runs as the Guards jumped over Minnesota pitching with 14 hits. Cal Quantrill won his 13th game and is now undefeated in 42 appearances in Progressive Field.
“I want us to care about today, and then learn and move on,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said after the game on Cleveland.com. “Don’t get too full of yourself if you won, don’t drag your head if you lost. Show up tomorrow and let's see if we can do it again. But because of how they played, these games, they’re fun, man. This is why these guys work so hard. And it’s a first for a lot of them. That doesn’t mean they can’t do it.”
Aaron Civ ale was pitching extremely well until his last start against Seattle, when he gave up four runs and two homers in 6.1 innings in a 4-0 loss on Aug. 28. He is also coming off the injured list due to an elbow injury. He faced the White Sox once this season on July 13 and allowed two hits and no runs in one inning. He left that game with a sore right wrist and then missed four weeks.