Lucas Giolito scattered two hits and struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings to lift the host Cleveland Guardians to a 12-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday.
Cleveland’s Andres Gimenez and Kole Calhoun each belted a two-run homer and Ramon Laureano went deep to lead off the fifth. Josh Naylor drove in three runs to highlight his four-hit performance, Will Brennan had a two-run double and Jose Ramirez and Gimenez each drove in another run for the Guardians (70-78).
Cleveland’s 15-hit uprising went a long way toward snapping Texas’ six-game winning streak. The Rangers (82-65) mustered little before Sam Huff’s solo homer in the ninth ended the shutout bid.
Evan Carter ripped a one-out double in the third off Giolito (8-13), however the rookie was thrown out at third base while attempting to stretch his hit into a triple. Giolito yielded just one other hit, Corey Seager’s double to lead off the seventh, en route to snapping a five-start skid and posting his first win since Aug. 8 while pitching for the Los Angeles Angels.
Cleveland set the tone in the second as Jon Gray (8-8) hit Laureano with a pitch before seeing Gimenez deposit a first-pitch curveball over the wall in right-center field. The homer was Gimenez’s 13th of the season and first since Aug. 25.
Naylor’s RBI single to left field plated Gabriel Arias in the fourth to push the Guardians’ lead to 3-0.
That spelled the end of the evening for Gray, who fell to 0-3 in his last six outings after permitting three runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.
The Guardians kept the pressure on as Laureano sent a 2-1 fastball from Andrew Heaney over the wall in left field in the fifth inning. Laureano’s homer was his ninth of the season and first since Aug. 27.
Cleveland tacked on five more runs in the sixth to extend its advantage to 9-0. Ramirez and Naylor each had RBI doubles, Gimenez followed with a run-scoring single and Brennan capped the uprising with a two-run double to left field.
Naylor’s RBI single and Calhoun’s fifth homer of the season capped Cleveland’s scoring in the seventh.
–Field Level Media
