Rookie season lessons leading to standout performances for Guardians starter Joey Cantillo

CLEVELAND — Joey Cantillo's rookie season has been a story of struggling through the darkness before breaking through into the sunlight, although only a brief window into the light thus far.

And as long as he remains sun-kissed, he has a spot in the Guardians rotation during their most important stretch of the entire season.

Upon being called up to make his major league debut in July , Cantillo met some resistance, as rookies often do. In his first five major league appearances, he was hit hard and his ERA was 7.71. In 18⅔ innings, he struck out 15 batters — an encouraging sign — but was also knocked around for 21 hits and allowed nine walks and six home runs.

That led to his demotion to Triple-A until recently, when he was recalled for his second stint. Those two starts have been the statistical opposite of his first taste of the majors.

In those two outings, in which he was thrown 12 innings combined and flirted with a perfect game in Chicago , Cantillo has allowed just one run on five hits and one walk with 16 strikeouts.

In a way, it took Cantillo struggling through the darkness to find the light with Guardians pitching coaches.

"I think we got some really good feedback," said pitching coach Carlo Willis . "If you go back to the Baltimore outing [Aug. 3] where he didn't have great command or feel for his changeup that day, it allowed them to basically say, 'OK, we're going to eliminate the curveball.' … They didn't want to swing at it and basically they just went up hitting fastballs."

It showed Cantillo how to best sequence his repertoire of pitches. He then came out of the bullpen in a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals, retiring all five hitters he faced. That, too, Willis called a "strong byproduct" of the progress Cantillo has made. There, it showed the benefit of going on the offensive.

"I think that really proved to him, coming in the game, just to finish the game off so to speak with how well his stuff played that day against a really good offensive club attacking the strike zone," Willis said. "In my mind, [the last two outings], it's just strike throwing, it's attacking the zone."

And if Cantillo continues to pitch like his last two outings? As the playoffs draw near, he won't have to worry about again finding the shadows.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Rookie season lessons leading to standout performances for Guardians starter Joey Cantillo