Josh Naylor had four hits and drove in six runs to power the Cleveland Guardians to a 12-8 victory over the host Baltimore Orioles in the rubber match of their three-game series on Wednesday.
Naylor went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a two-run homer and three runs; Andres Gimenez went 4-for-5 with two RBIs; and Jose Ramirez went 3-for-6 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI for the Guardians.
Steven Kwan had three hits and three runs, while Gabriel Arias and Josh Bell each homered for Cleveland, which has won three of its past four games.
Adley Rutschman went 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run, while Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer for the Orioles. Ryan McKenna and Ryan O’Hearn each drove in a pair of runs for Baltimore, which has dropped four of its past six contests.
Trailing 7-6 entering the fifth inning, the Guardians loaded the bases before Naylor cleared them with a double to center before trotting home on Arias’ two-run homer to center for an 11-7 lead.
The Orioles pulled to within 11-8 in the bottom of the inning on O’Hearn’s RBI groundout, but Naylor’s RBI single in the top of the seventh made it 12-8.
After the Guardians took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Ramirez’s RBI double that scored Kwan, the Orioles responded by scoring all four of their second-inning runs with two outs.
Jorge Mateo hit a run-scoring double before McKenna followed with a two-run single, with Rutschman capping the inning with an infield single to score McKenna for a 4-1 advantage.
The Guardians pulled to within 4-3 in the third on Gimenez’s two-run single to left that scored Naylor and Ramirez.
The Orioles pushed their lead to 5-3 in the bottom half of the inning when O’Hearn’s two-out double scored Aaron Hicks.
The Guardians took a 6-5 lead in the fourth on Naylor’s two-run shot to center followed by Bell’s solo homer to left.
The Orioles countered with Santander’s two-run homer in the bottom of the inning for a 7-6 lead.
Meanwhile, Guardians starter Shane Bieber was rocked for seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks in just four innings before being relieved by Xzavion Curry to open the bottom of the fifth.
Curry (2-0) allowed one run on one hit in his lone inning of work to pick up the win.
Orioles reliever Mychal Givens (0-1) picked up the loss by allowing three runs on two hits and a walk without recording an out upon entering to open the fifth inning.
–Field Level Media
