The Cleveland Guardians will play host to the San Francisco Giants when they open a 3-game set tonight at Progressive Field. At 51-73 the Giants know they are not headed to the post-season and that is why they traded their ace Robby Ray to their archrival San Diego Padres and left fielder Heliot Ramos to the New York Yankees. So, for the remainder of the season San Francisco will just go through the motions. Tonight the Giants are expected to send Carson Whisenhunt to the bump. The Guardians do not put up a lot of runs but should tonight against the right-hander. Whisenhunt is 3-3 with a bloated ERA of 6.11 and a 1.71 WHIP. The 60-65 Guardians are still very much alive in the Wild Card hunt and winning the AL Central is not out of the equation, as they sit just 5.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox for the top spot. Southpaw All-Star Foster Griffin is expected to be called on to throw strikes for Cleveland. Griffin was acquired from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline and has been a little shaky over his first two starts for his new club. He is due for a shutdown game and this should be it. Griffin is 13-4 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. The Giants have one of the worst road records in the majors at 22-40 and if the Guardians are going to make a push for the AL Central lead this is their opportunity to get it started.
TONIGHT’S PICK: CLEVELAND GUARDIANS