San Diego Padres at Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians added a monumental victory to Cleveland’s franchise record books on Saturday. For the 2026 ballclub, it was significant in its own right. The Guardians beat the Padres, 6-1, at Progressive Field on Saturday, securing the 10,000th win in Cleveland franchise history. They joined the Red Sox and Yankees as the only teams to reach that milestone, among franchises established since 1900. “That’s an unbelievable number to get to, and I’m honored to be a part of it,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the reeling Guardians (60-64), who improved to 9-18 since the All-Star break and 4-9 in August. That second-half slide has put the ballclub's season in danger of slipping away, and a recurring theme has been the Guardians’ inability to play a complete game. We saw it in Friday’s 7-5 loss, when starter Gavin Williams delivered his shortest outing of the season on a night Cleveland was productive offensively. Saturday, the Guardians played complementary baseball, led by starter Joey Cantillo. The lefty allowed one run on one hit and three walks over six innings. “This is what we've been talking about, a game like this,” Vogt said. “Joey was outstanding. The bullpen was great. Moving runners, causing chaos on the bases, that looked like us tonight. It was a lot of fun to see.” The Guardians sit one game back of the Rangers for the final AL Wild Card spot, with four teams sandwiched between. Here are three keys to Saturday’s win. **1\. Cantillo delivers** Cantillo took the mound Saturday for the first time in six days. He threw one inning against the White Sox on Sunday before a two-hour, 23-minute rain delay ended his day prematurely. Cantillo said he felt rested Saturday, and it showed. He issued a leadoff walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the first inning, who eventually scored on a Manny Machado 5-4-3 double play ball. Cantillo held San Diego to just two walks after that. “Obviously that was really unfortunate. I’ve never really had a situation like that where just the ball gets taken out of your hands,” Cantillo said of his Chicago start. “I felt good today and it was just one of those things, ‘All right, hey, let's pitch as deep into the game as we can and try to help us win.’” Saturday marked Cantillo’s first time pitching six-plus innings since June 26 against Seattle. Colin Holderman, Hunter Gaddis and Erik Sabrowski did not allow a baserunner over three innings in relief. **2\. J-Ram kicks off steady flow