BALTIMORE (AP) — José Ramírez hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians slugged their way to a seventh consecutive victory, beating the slumping Baltimore Orioles 10-8 on Tuesday night.
Gunnar Henderson, James McCann, Colton Cowser and Anthony Santander hit home runs for Baltimore, but that wasn’t enough to prevent a fifth straight loss for the defending AL East champions. Pitching injuries have caught up to the Orioles, who haven’t had a skid this long since dropping six in a row from May 13-18, 2022, days before catcher Adley Rutschman made his big league debut.
Ramírez has gone deep in each of the first two games of this series, and with 237 homers he’s now in sole possession of third place on the franchise’s career list. His drive to center capped a five-run fourth that put the Guardians up 8-4 on a night when neither starting pitcher lasted past the fourth.
“I think that this ballclub is really good at adjusting to any situation — good, bad or ugly,” said Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor, who finished a homer shy of the cycle and scored three runs. “Everyone that’s in there has the utmost confidence in everyone else.”
Pedro Avila (2-1) worked 2 1/3 hitless innings of relief for the win. The AL Central-leading Guardians used five pitchers in relief of Logan Allen, who was removed with nobody out in the fourth.
Emmanuel Clase worked the ninth for his 25th save in 28 chances. Cleveland now has the best record in baseball at 51-26.
Cole Irvin (6-4) yielded eight runs and 10 hits in four innings, although four of those runs were unearned.
Several big choices worked out badly for Baltimore in the top of the fourth. With a man on first and one out, Gabriel Arias hit a dribbler in front of the plate. McCann, the catcher, tried to make a tough throw to retire the lead runner at second, but second baseman Jorge Mateo couldn’t make the catch, and the error on McCann left men on second and third.
The Orioles then brought the infield in, which allowed Brayan Rocchio’s grounder to slip through the left side for an RBI single. Steven Kwan followed with a run-scoring single of his own to give Cleveland a 5-4 lead, and when Anthony Santander’s throw from right field went all the way to third in an unsuccessful attempt to get Rocchio, Kwan moved up to second.
A groundout to third failed to advance either runner, but then the Orioles decided to pitch to Ramírez with first base open, and he connected on a 1-0 pitch for his 21st homer of the season.
Cleveland’s David Fry opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first, but Henderson answered with his 25th home run, a two-run shot.
Arias’ two-run double in the second put the Guardians back ahead. Then McCann tied it with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
Jordan Westburg drove in a run with a third-inning double to put the Orioles ahead 4-3, but that lead was short lived.
After Cleveland’s big fourth, McCann and Cowser hit consecutive homers to lead off the bottom of the inning, making it 8-6. But McCann’s lack of speed cost the Orioles twice.
He was thrown out at home trying to score from first on Ryan Mountcastle’s two-out double in the second. In the seventh, McCann came up with the bases loaded and one out and hit into a rare 5-4-3 groundout. Ramírez ranged to his right to field the grounder to third, and Cleveland whipped the ball around the infield, trying for a double play.
McCann was out at first, but second baseman Andrés Giménez came off the bag before catching and relaying the ball at second, so that runner was safe and a run scored to make it 8-7.
Cleveland immediately responded in the eighth. Naylor hit an RBI triple, and when Arias hit a one-out grounder toward second, reliever Yennier Cano made a desperate stab at the ball from the mound, accidentally knocking it out of Westburg’s reach when it looked like the second baseman was in good position to field it. That RBI single made it 10-7.
Santander’s solo shot in the eighth was his 12th homer of June, tying a franchise record.
UP NEXT
Cleveland tries for a three-game sweep Wednesday night. Grayson Rodriguez (8-3) starts for the Orioles against Carlos Carrasco (3-6).
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