The first-place Cleveland Guardians travel across the country for an inter-league series with the San Diego Padres starting on Tuesday night. The Guardians are in first place in the AL Central Division and will come into Tuesday's game with two-days rest following a rainout on Sunday. The Padres remain in the thick of the NL wildcard race but have played inconsistently since the team's series of blockbuster deals at the trade deadline. Tuesday night's pitching matchup will be Aaron Civale (2-5, 5.63) of the Guardians taking on former Guardian Mike Clevinger (4-4, 3.63) of the Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40pm EST.
The Cleveland Guardians travel west as the surprising leaders of the AL Central Division. The Guardians are 6-4 in their last ten games but should be well rested despite the cross-country trip due to a rainout against the 3rd place White Sox on Sunday. The Guardians remain just ahead of both the White Sox and the Twins as the season heads towards September. This will be the final west coast trip for the Guardians this season as they wrap up the six-game trip with four games against another playoff hopeful, the Seattle Mariners, in Seattle.
Looks like we'll have an update in the next 60-90 minutes. pic.twitter.com/4zMQKej7qO
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The Guardians will lean heavily on their pitching staff down the stretch as they hope to stave off both the Twins and White Sox to win their first division title since 2018. The Guardians have had 11 quality starts in their last 20 games and have helped the team to a solid 3.07 ERA in that span. On the mound on Tuesday night will be Aaron Civale. Civale just recently returned from a stint on the IL. He has made 14 starts on the season and has had three quality starts. Civale has been excellent in his two starts since returning from the IL. He has pitched ten innings, allowed six hits and has an ERA of 2.70. His strikeout rate has been excellent as Civale has a 12.60 K/9 rate and a 5.4 H/9 rate in the two games.