Ramon Laureano scored the go-ahead run by drawing a walk with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to fuel the host Cleveland Guardians to a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Jose Ramirez and Bo Naylor each had an RBI single and Josh Naylor and Gabriel Arias also drove in a run for the Guardians (73-81), who snapped a three-game skid.
Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman collected a pair of doubles among his three hits and scored on an RBI double by Ryan O’Hearn. Anthony Santander had an RBI groundout for the Orioles (95-58), who have dropped two in a row following a four-game winning streak.
Baltimore saw its lead in the American League East dip to 1 1/2 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, who posted a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels earlier on Thursday.
After Baltimore forged a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth, Cleveland regained the lead in the bottom of the inning.
The Guardians loaded the bases with no outs against Cionel Perez (4-2) after Josh Naylor was hit by a pitch, Tyler Freeman walked and Andres Gimenez singled to right field. Jacob Webb replaced Perez and promptly walked Laureano on seven pitches to give the Orioles a 3-2 advantage.
Baltimore was able to force Freeman out at home before Gimenez scored on Bo Naylor’s single to shallow right field. Arias’ groundout plated Laureano to cap the three-run inning.
The late uprising made a winner out of Trevor Stephan (7-7), who allowed two runs on three hits in one inning. Emmanuel Clase struck out a pair in the ninth inning to secure his career-high-tying 42nd save of the season.
The Orioles scratched for a pair of the runs in the eighth inning.
Pinch-runner Ramon Urias advanced to third on Rutschman’s second double of the game and scored on Santander’s groundout to shortstop. Rutschman, who moved up to third on the groundout, came around to score on the double by O’Hearn.
Cleveland opened the scoring in the fifth inning after Bo Naylor crossed the plate on Ramirez’s single to center field. Steven Kwan cruised home on Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly to give the Guardians a 2-0 lead.
–Field Level Media
