The Cleveland Guardians may have found something they’ve been chasing for most of the first half: a clearer answer in the back of the bullpen.
Their series against the Miami Marlins before the All-Star Break wasn’t just a win on the scoreboard. Cleveland got three strong starts, some timely offense from players who don’t usually grab the spotlight, and - maybe the most important development of all - a bullpen that held firm when the game got tight.
Over the three-game set, the Guardians’ relievers posted a 1.93 ERA across 9 1/3 innings and collected two saves in three close games. The bigger story, though, was how the innings were distributed. For a bullpen that had been something of a puzzle for much of the first half, this looked a lot more like a group with defined roles.
Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith and Franco Aleman each threw two innings in the series, and that usage says plenty. Gaddis and Smith being at the center of things is no surprise; they’re Cleveland’s two most important relievers. Aleman’s presence there is more revealing.
He entered the weekend with just five big league appearances, and even though he pitched well in his first two outings with the Guardians at the end of May, the team sent him back to the minors during a bullpen shuffle. He returned at the start of July, but his first three appearances came in low-leverage spots while Cleveland was already behind, which made it look like the club still wasn’t ready to lean on him.
That changed against Miami. Aleman picked up two holds in the series, including an eighth-inning appearance on Saturday in a game where Colin Holderman got the save. He then came back on Sunday and worked a scoreless sixth inning after Joey Cantillo exited.
Aleman has looked like a useful high-leverage option for a while, and this series finally showed the Guardians using him that way.
Smith and Gaddis, meanwhile, have settled back into the kind of form that made them such a dangerous tandem. Gaddis has been especially sharp, riding a streak of 11 straight scoreless innings with two walks and 15 strikeouts.
After opening the season with a 9.53 ERA through his first eight appearances, he’s turned things around in a big way. He picked up a hold in both the first and last games of the Marlins series.
Smith also appeared in the first and last games, earned one save, and gave up a Griffin Conine home run in his final outing. Even so, he remains one of the best relievers in baseball and leads MLB with 28 saves.
For a Guardians team that doesn’t get much help from its lineup, the bullpen is going to matter every night. It took Stephen Vogt and the decision-makers a while to settle on the right mix, but the Marlins series suggested the picture is starting to sharpen.
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