Guardians strive to distance themselves from Jays in AL wild-card race

The Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night will be out for a series win that would push the visiting Toronto Blue Jays further behind in the American League wild-card race.

The Guardians (70-68) defeated the Blue Jays (68-71) in the opener of the three-game series 6-1 on Tuesday.

The outcome shoved the Blue Jays to 2 1/2 games behind in a tight chase for the AL's third and final wild-card berth, occupied by the Guardians.

Cleveland still has first place in the AL Central within range, trailing the Chicago White Sox by three games.

In taking the opener from the Blue Jays, the Guardians used three two-run homers and strong pitching from Gavin Williams, who struck out a career-best 13.

"We feel great. We control our own destiny," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "We're playing a lot of the teams that we're either competing for a wild-card spot with or chasing them in the division. You can't ask for anything more.

"Last year, we were in a position where we needed to do our job but we needed help. This year we're in a position where we don't need help. We just need to go play good baseball and win games. We have control over that."

The Blue Jays will count on Cy Young Award contender Dylan Cease (9-5, 2.33 ERA) to give them a split of the opening two games of the series. The right-hander is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA in 14 career starts against the Guardians. He last faced them in 2025.

Left-hander Joey Cantillo (9-7, 3.70) is expected to start for Cleveland. He is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Blue Jays, including going 0-1, 1.80, in one start this season.

Cease has shown he is capable of duplicating Williams, who allowed only an unearned run and two hits in seven innings on Tuesday. Williams is tied with Cease for the AL lead in strikeouts with 217.

Both Toronto and Cleveland have struggled offensively this year.

The Blue Jays were no match for Williams, but they hope Cease can match his performance.

"That's just a tough draw tonight through seven," Toronto manager John Schneider said. "A lot of swing and miss. He's got good stuff, but when you put command on it, too, there's outings like that one."

The Blue Jays had three singles, one walk and one hit batter in the game. Their run was unearned, the result of a catcher's throwing error and a wild pitch.

Major league teams have expanded their rosters for September. The Blue Jays on Tuesday used two pitchers who were added. Ricky Tiedemann pitched a scoreless second inning as their second opener, and Joe Mantiply allowed pinch hitter Angel Genao's two-run homer in the seventh.

The Guardians added versatility when they recalled Daniel Schneemann from Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday. He did not play, but when he does it will be in various roles.

He was optioned to Triple-A Columbus on July 24 when he was batting .206 with six homers and 28 RBIs. He batted .326 with three homers and 10 RBIs at Columbus.

"We know what Daniel can bring us defensively, and obviously that's a big reason why he's here down the stretch," Vogt said. "He can play seven positions. He can step in and start for anybody. He can come into any game and we automatically upgrade defensively."

--Field Level Media