A pair of American League playoff hopefuls continue their series on the diamond up in the Pacific Northwest. The Cleveland Guardians are on the road as they play the second game of a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners Friday night. Cleveland swept a two-game interleague set on the road from San Diego as they rolled to a 7-0 win Wednesday afternoon. Seattle split a two-game interleague set at home with Washington as they were defeated 3-1 Wednesday afternoon in their most recent game. This article was published prior to the series opener concluding at T-Mobile Park Thursday afternoon.
Cleveland swept their two-game set from San Diego on the road to win for the fourth time in five games Wednesday. The Guardians entered Thursday holding a four-game lead over the Twins and White Sox in the AL Central race. On Wednesday, Jose Ramirez (two runs, three RBI) had three hits while Owen Miller (run), Luke Maile (run, RBI) and Myles Straw each added a pair to pace a 13-hit Cleveland attack. Ramirez homered twice, giving him 25 on the season, while Oscar Gonzalez hit his fifth of the season. Cal Quantrill (10-5) earned the win on the mound as he threw seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Shane Bieber is on the hill for the Guardians as he logs his 24th start of the season in this contest. He comes in 8-7 with a 3.10 ERA, a 1.103 WHIP, 32 walks and 144 strikeouts over 145 innings of work. Bieber took a tough loss in his last start, which cam e Saturday at home against the White Sox. He threw 6.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a 2-0 Guardians defeat. In his last three starts, Bieber is 2-1 with a 1.33 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, four walks and 18 strikeouts over 20.1 innings of work. Bieber makes his fifth career start against the Mariners in this contest. He is 1-2 with a 3.75 ERA, a 1.458 WHIP, 10 walks and 28 strikeouts over 24 innings of work in those contests. Bieber is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, seven walks and 12 strikeouts over 10.2 innings in two career starts at T-Mobile Park.