DETROIT -- Guardians starter Slade Cecconi delivered a 2-2 cutter to Dillon Dingler in the sixth inning Monday night at Comerica Park. The offering moved down and away from the Tigers’ catcher, who swung through it for strike three to end the inning.
That moment was part of an impressive start by Cecconi, who led the Guardians to an 8-2 win in the opener of a three-game series. He tossed 7 1/3 innings and allowed just two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“He was awesome,” manager Stephen Vogt said.
Cecconi was just shy of matching the longest start this season by a Guardians pitcher. Parker Messick tossed eight innings on April 16 against the Orioles.
Cecconi has had the bumpiest road this season among the Guardians’ five starting pitchers. He entered Monday with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP through nine starts and had completed six innings just once (on April 5 against the Cubs).
In his past two starts, Cecconi showed signs of trending in a better direction: He allowed a combined two runs in 9 1/3 innings. It’s no surprise that he’s been working to turn things around, and he might have found something with his pitch mix.
Cecconi is primarily leaning on his four-seam fastball, his two-seamer and his cutter, while also working on his curveball. His cutter is emerging as a flexible weapon that is allowing him to move away from a sweeper that he's having little success with this season.
“It’s understanding that my identity when I take that mound is a guy that executes the crap out of four-two-cut," Cecconi said of his four-seam fastball, two-seamer and cutter. “I can drop a curveball in for a strike, and I can finish below [the zone] with it. That's who I am.
“Whoever's in the box is going to get some version of that guy. I’m just owning that.”
Cecconi adjusted his cutter over the winter to make it harder and sharper, and he replaced his slurvey slider with a sweeper. The idea was to have two pitches that he could consistently execute, but the sweeper has not been consistent this season.
Entering Monday, opponents had hit .417 against Cecconi’s sweeper, with a 1.000 slugging percentage. Its usage (9.6 percent) was the lowest among his five pitches. As he said, “It just was getting crushed, and it wasn't getting chased all that much.”
Cecconi is now using his cutter in two ways. He can throw it as a riding fastball that cuts, and as a “gyro” slider (moving downward). He can throw it to each quadrant of the strike zone. Meanwhile, he has the four-seamer to work with at the top of the zone and the sinker to work with near the bottom.
“It's two pitches in one,” Cecconi said of the cutter. “That's my slider. That's also my cutter, because I can command it. I can manipulate it. … It's just a better pitch, so the cutter is a slider, in a sense."
In short, with two variations of the cutter, Cecconi has a bunch of pitches he can confidently execute, along with his four-seamer, two-seamer and curveball. He’s had success leaning into the three-heaters strategy the past two starts. Consider his pitch usage overall this season compared to this past Tuesday vs. the Angels (when he threw four scoreless innings) and Monday:
- 2026 pitch usage: Four-seamer (34.2 percent), cutter (25.5), two-seamer (15.8), curveball (15.0) and sweeper (9.6)
- Tuesday: Two-seamer (38 percent), four-seamer (33), cutter (22 percent), curveball (four) and sweeper (two)
- Monday: Four-seamer (34 percent), cutter (32), two-seamer (17), curveball (11), changeup (four) and sweeper (one)
Cecconi threw 31 cutters on Monday and tied his season high with four whiffs on it, on 16 swings. Detroit hit .176 and struck out three times against it. He might have found something here with how he’s using that pitch.
It certainly worked Monday. The Tigers’ only damage off Cecconi came in the first and eighth innings. Detroit sent five batters to the plate in the former and scored on a Riley Greene RBI double. Matt Vierling hit a leadoff home run in the latter.
Cecconi had a solid debut season with the Guardians last year. He did not get off to the start he wanted this season, but he might have found something that can stick going forward.
“He's a tireless worker,” Vogt said. “Slade's always trying to make the adjustments to get back to being who he is and the best version of him.”