CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – After a long, slow climb, the Guardians are back above .500.
Manager Terry Francona had to watch them do it from his office after being thrown out in the seventh arguing a call.
Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor homered, Oscar Gonzalez went 4-4 and the Guardians scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to rally for an 8-4 victory Thursday night at Progressive Field.
“Nights like this are fun to watch their youthful enthusiasm and not backing down — all the things we want to live by,” Francona said. “You get proud.”
Cleveland, who has played the fewest games and fewest home games due to seven weather-related postponements, improved to 27-26 on the season with their ninth win in their last 13 games, but they had to come from behind to do it.
After Guardians starter Konnor Pilkington hit Sean Murphy to lead off the top of the second, A’s designated hitter Christian Bethancourt swatted his second home run of the season, a two-run shot, to the seats in right for an early 2-0 Oakland advantage.
“From the get-go he didn’t have the life on his fastball,” Francona said of Pilkington. “He certainly wasn’t commanding… The fact that he competed and hung in there says a lot about him, but he just didn’t have the same life on his pitches tonight.”
Despite three walks and a single that followed in the inning, Pilkington escaped with the bases loaded and no further damage done thanks in part to a 1-4-3-6 pickoff.
“Some nights you have your best stuff, some nights you have your average stuff and tonight was one of those nights where I had my average stuff,” Pilkington said.
Pilkington was charged with four earned runs and allowed eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out a pair, walked four and did not factor in the decision.
Four Guardians relievers – Bryan Shaw, Sam Hentges, Enyel De Los Santos, who picked up his first win of the season, and Trevor Stephan did not allow a run the rest of the way.
Ramirez and Naylor in the span of mere seconds tied the game at two with back-to-back homers to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Ramirez sent one to the seats in right for his 15th homer of the season while Naylor cleared the center field fence, his seventh round tripper in 2022.
It marked the first time Cleveland hit back-to-back homers since July 31, 2021 when Owen Miller and Austin Hedges did it on the south side of Chicago.
Oakland took a 4-2 lead in the top of the sixth thanks to a two-out, two-run pinch-hit double to center by Seth Brown off reliever Bryan Shaw.
Cleveland countered in the bottom of the inning with a two-out RBI single from Gonzalez, scoring Steven Kwan from second to make it a 4-3 game.
“This is what I’ve been thinking about since I was a kid,” Gonzalez said through an interpreter. “I’ve prepared for this. I just pray to God to be able to play the best way I can every day.”
Prior to Gonzalez’ hit, Francona was ejected for the first time this season and for the 45th time in his career after arguing with umpires after Kwan stole second base but the throw went into center field causing Oakland shortstop Elvis Andrus to land on Kwan, knocking him down as he attempted to get up to advance towards third.
“I just didn’t understand, I don’t think you reward the offending team,” Francona said. “[Second base umpire Jeremie Rehak] told me, ‘There’s no way he could get to third.’ I said, ‘Well, he didn’t get a chance. He was trying.’ So then he asked all the umpires. They said the same thing. So I told all four of them I thought they were wrong, and then I told them to tell the guy in New York I thought he was wrong, too.”
Kwan tied the game at 4 in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single, scoring catcher Luke Maile. Myles Straw paused on his way to third with the relay throw on the way, allowing Maile to score, before sliding in safely.
“We’re confident as a team,” Kwan said. “I think we always think we’re in the game. There’s never a time when we see a pitcher and think ‘oh here we go, it’s going to be a tough one.’ We always got each other’s backs and we always have a good plan.”
Then came the eighth inning that saw the first five Guardians collect hits. Andres Gimenez gave Cleveland a 5-4 lead with an RBI single to score Oscar Mercado, who pinch ran for Gonzalez.
Ernie Clement, who made three spectacular plays in the field at third base, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that was ruled a base hit, prompting an errant throw from A’s reliever Lou Trivino by first base allowing Owen Miller to score for a 6-4 lead.
“I gotta do little things to help the team win when you’re not playing every day,” Clement said. “To get that bunt down and get a run across is huge. Even if I didn’t get on base, it’s second and third with some really good hitters behind me and I have no doubt they would’ve gotten the job done.”
Richie Palacios then delivered a pinch-hit two-run double to score Gimenez and Clement to cap the scoring, sealing an 8-4 win.