Cal Quantrill won his second consecutive start and the Cleveland Guardians reached the .500 mark on Tuesday with a 6-3 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader over the visiting Texas Rangers.
The right-hander improved to 3-3 on the season with an ERA of 3.56. He pitched seven innings and allowed three runs, eight hits and one walk. He struck out three.
The Guardians have won seven of their last nine games to reach the .500 mark (25-25) for the first time since May 14.
There was a 1-hour, 19-minute rain delay before the game.
The Rangers have lost five of their last six games.
Closer Emmanuel Clase earned his 10th save with a hitless ninth.
Cleveland recorded six stolen bases, as Myles Straw and Amed Rosario each had two.
Straw also made a sliding catch in the sixth inning that saved one or possibly two runs with a drive off the bat of Texas’ Nathaniel Lowe. There were two runners on base at the time.
The Guardians scored an important insurance run in the seventh when pinch-runner Oscar Mercado scored from second on an infield grounder by Andres Jimenez. Rangers shortstop Marcus Semien bobbled the grounder, but Jimenez was credited with an RBI single for a 6-3 lead.
Rangers rookie Steele Walker’s first major-league hit was a 349-foot homer into the bleachers in right to lead off the seventh.
One out later, Semien followed with a homer over the left-field wall, an estimated 350 feet from home plate. His fourth long ball of the season narrowed Texas’ deficit to 5-3.
The Rangers have now hit home runs in 10 consecutive games.
The Guardians jumped all over losing pitcher Jon Gray (1-3) in the third inning. Owen Miller struck first with a two-run single that scored Straw and Rosario.
Josh Naylor and Oscar Gonzalez followed with run-scoring doubles to cap Cleveland’s four-run uprising. It handed the Guardians a 5-1 advantage.
Gonzalez has hit safely in nine of his 10 major-league games.
The Rangers struck first in the top of the first. Semien came home on a fielder’s choice by Kole Calhoun for a 1-0 lead.
Cleveland knotted the score at 1-1 in the second when Naylor walked and later scored on Steven Kwan’s sacrifice fly.
Gray pitched five innings and allowed five runs, six hits and four walks. He struck out three batters.
–Field Level Media
