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.