José Ramírez hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians won their sixth straight game, 3-2 over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Tanner Bibee (6-2) allowed one earned run in six innings for the Guardians, who were able to protect their slim lead without using highly worked closer Emmanuel Clase. Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis worked the seventh and eighth, and Scott Barlow struck out the side in the ninth for his second save of the year.
“I’ve had calmer games,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “But we’ve talked about it all year, that’s the beauty of this bullpen is every one of them can pitch in leverage. Mr. Barlow’s had his fair share of saves as well, so he’s in a very comfortable situation for him.”
Since taking two of three in a big series at Yankee Stadium, Baltimore has dropped four in a row for the first time this year. Rookie Cade Povich (0-2) steadied himself after a 31-pitch first inning, but with the score tied at 2 in the sixth, Ramírez hit a 431-foot homer to center field.
It was Ramírez’s 236th home run, tying Manny Ramirez for third on the team’s career list.
This was the first meeting between these two franchises in which both were at least 20 games over .500, according to information from the Elias Sports Bureau via the Guardians. Cleveland (50-26) extended its lead in the AL Central to eight games over Minnesota, and the Orioles (49-29) fell to two games behind the AL East-leading Yankees.