Andres Gimenez collected four hits, including a home run, and Oscar Gonzalez chipped in with three doubles to power the Cleveland Guardians to a 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Boosted by a 15-hit attack, the Guardians avoided being swept after being walked off in back-to-back games.
Tanner Bibee (9-2) held the Rays in check, giving up two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in seven innings.
Gabriel Arias added a home run for the Guardians.
Cleveland seized control by scoring at least one run in each of the first five innings.
Rays starter Zach Eflin (12-7) surrendered a season-high six runs in just three innings, allowing nine hits and two home runs. Eflin entered the afternoon 10-2 with a 2.49 ERA in 13 starts at home.
In the first two innings, the Guardians built up Eflin’s pitch count, running it to 53. The Rays weren’t pleased with plate umpire Adrian Johnson’s strike zone, so much so that pitching coach Kyle Snyder was ejected by Johnson in the second inning during a mound visit.
Gimenez got the Guardians going in the first inning with a one-out home run to center field.
Cleveland capitalized on the long ball again in the second inning, scoring three runs. Will Brennan singled to open the inning, and Arias delivered a no-doubt shot to left center for a two-run homer. After Bo Naylor walked, he scored on Steven Kwan’s RBI single.
The Guardians kept the pressure on in the third inning. Kole Calhoun singled and scored on Gonzalez’s RBI double. Brennan’s RBI ground-rule double padded Cleveland’s advantage to 6-0.
In the bottom of the third, Rays shortstop prospect Osleivis Basabe, making his major debut, doubled in his first big-league at-bat. Yandy Diaz’s RBI single plated Basabe for the Rays’ first run.
The Rays turned to left-hander Jake Diekman in the fourth inning, and the Guardians scored two more runs. Kwan singled, and on Gimenez’s infield single, Diekman made a throwing error, which allowed Kwan to score from first. Two outs later, Gonzalez delivered his second run-scoring double.
Naylor doubled and scored on Gimenez’s RBI single in the fifth to extend Cleveland’s lead to eight runs.
Tampa Bay plated a run in the sixth inning on Randy Arozarena’s double and Harold Ramirez’s sacrifice fly.
–Field Level Media
