Guardians Win Behind Offensive Outburst

· Yahoo Sports

CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 08: Joey Cantillo #54 of the Cleveland Guardians throws a pitch during the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on April 08, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Cantillo was great today. He unfortunately didn’t finish the 6th, but went 5.2 solid innings walking only 2 Royals hitters. He struck out 9, and did a fantastic job of limiting hard contact. He had some trouble locating his fastball, but all of his other pitches were consistently in the zone. Entering today’s game, Guardians starters averaged a tick over 5 innings a start (5th in MLB), and posted a 2.77 ERA (2nd in MLB). The rotation has been fantastic so far. They’re striking out over 10.5 hitters per 9 innings, although they are walking roughly 4.5 hitters/9. Both their walk rate and HR rate are bottom 10 in MLB, but they’ve managed to limit damage otherwise. It helps that, so far, they’ve induced the 11th most groundballs in MLB. The pitching staff, today, notched their 10th game with 10+ strikeouts, the most in MLB (2nd most has 7). To the offense!

The Guardians had 16 hits today which, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins, tied their season-high from 2025. They only had 15+ hits 3 times last season. Definitely an encouraging sign that they’re having outbursts like today’s so early in the season.

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Cole Ragans did not get out of the first inning today. He was first hit in the hand by a Jose comebacker, but stayed in the game.

He then walked Fry and gave up an RBI double off the wall to DeLauter. He was taken out of the game after the double.

The Royals brought in a long reliever, and hoskins immediately hit his first (of 3) doubles today to drive in another run.

In the 2nd, the Guardians had runners on first and second with two outs, and Jose hit — well — a Jose double.

In the 5th, in the same situation, Juan Brito earned his first career RBI with this double down the line.

Brito has been fantastic so far. 2 MLB games, 2 multi-hit games, 2 XBH. So far, he’s chasing a little more than you’d like, but it’s early. But, he’s barely whiffing, and putting up really good exit velocity numbers for someone this new to MLB. He’s averaging 98+ mph on his batted balls and has been really aggressive in the zone (97th percentile zone-swing%).

Cantillo’s only earned run of the day came on a Bobby Witt double to left. The other run came on a fielding error by Kwan (although it could’ve just as easily been charged to Martinez).

It was pretty quiet until the 8th, when Brito and Hedges singled back-to-back (Hedges, by the way, has a 174 wRC+ on a .933 OPS). Rocchio worked a 3-1 count and, after an iffy 3-1 strike call, singled to right. Kwan walked to load the bases, and then Martinez smoked an oopsie slider into the seats in right-center. The Royals brought in a position player to pitch, which is always a welcome sight. For reference, the last position player to pitch against the Guardians was Luke Maile on September 8 of 2025… also for the Royals. That game also ended 10-2.

In other news, the Guardians announced today that Gabriel Arias will miss 4-8 weeks with a hamstring strain.

The Guardians have won 3 straight series against playoff contenders. They head south this weekend for a 3-game set with the Braves. It’ll be Cecconi vs. Elder on Friday night.

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