Cedric Mullins hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and the Baltimore Orioles beat Cleveland 4-2 on Wednesday night to end a five-game skid and snap the Guardians’ seven-game winning streak.
Gunnar Henderson hit his 26th home run and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep for the Orioles, who were winless since pounding the Yankees 17-5 on June 20. It was their longest losing streak since May 2022.
Jhonkensy Noel became the fourth Cleveland player to homer in his first major league at-bat, connecting in the second inning to put the Guardians ahead 1-0. Recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier in the day, the 22-year-old rookie hit a fastball over the center field wall after losing hold of his bat on the previous pitch, sending it flying toward third base.
“It just makes me so happy to make their major league debut,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Then he throws the bat 180 feet and hits it 480 feet the next pitch.”
The last Cleveland player to go deep on his first at-bat in the big leagues was Kevin Kouzmanoff in 2006.
Noel, however, went 1 for 4 and struck out to end the game.
A homer by Gabriel Arias put the Guardians up 2-1 in the fifth, but Henderson answered in the bottom half.
Guardians starter Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs and six hits in five innings. The right-hander was coming off a victory against Toronto after going 0-4 in five starts since May 5.