The best Guardians in the AL want to steal a series from the Rays

Right-hander Ben Lively, who has allowed more than three runs in only two of his 15 starts this season, will look to earn his ninth win of the season when he takes the mound Sunday afternoon for the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians in the deciding game of their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Lively (8-4, 3.59 ERA) allowed three runs in four innings in his only previous start against Tampa Bay and returned in 2018 when he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Right-hander Ryan Pepiot (5-5, 4.20) will start for the Rays, who will be looking to win their seventh series in their last eight attempts. A win would also give Tampa Bay a .500 record before the All-Star break.

Cleveland ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory on Saturday afternoon when rookie Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning to take the lead.

With one out and Tyler Freeman on first base after hitting a pinch-hit single with a broken bat, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Noel, nicknamed “Big Christmas,” hit an 0-1 slider from reliever Garrett Cleavinger 425 feet into the left-center stands for his fourth home run in just 35 major league at-bats since being called up to first base from Triple-A Columbus on June 26.

“Big Christmas is coming again,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “Since he’s been promoted, his hitting ability has been unmatched. And when he gets his pitch, he doesn’t miss it.”

“It was electrifying to come off the bench and hit the ball,” said second baseman Andres Gimenez, who had two hits and an RBI.

Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said he liked the duel between left-handed Cleavinger and right-handed Noel.

“Cleav has done such a good job for us basically all season,” Cash said. “I was ahead of him and then Noel saw that one good hit and jumped on it to get the biggest hit of the day.”

It was only Cleveland’s third road win in their last 11 attempts. The victory, along with Baltimore’s 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees, means the Guardians are sure to head into the All-Star break with the best record in the American League.

Tampa Bay, which won the series opener 2-0 on Friday after Taj Bradley pitched seven scoreless innings, had eight hits (including a triple and two doubles) in Saturday’s loss. But the Rays finished the game 0 of 11 runs with runners in scoring position. The Rays were also 1 of 16 runs with runners in scoring position in Friday’s win and have scored just 8 of 72 runs in that category in their last eight games.

“It’s a trend,” Cash said. “We have to somehow stop that trend. You can feel it in the dugout, you can feel it all game long. We’re capable of scoring big goals. But right now they’re not coming. Hopefully we can change that a little bit before halftime tomorrow.”

–Field level media