CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – In a battle of the two best teams in the American League, the Guardians kicked off their ninth homestand of the season with a dominant 10-3 win over the Orioles.
The first of three home runs hit by Cleveland came in the third inning when David Fry stepped up to bat. Fry belted a three-run homer 407 feet to the left-field bleachers. It was Fry’s ninth homer of the season, his first since May 31st. He had a career-high 145 plate appearances between home runs.
“Yeah I wasn’t sure I could still do it,” Fry said. “It was nice to see it go over the fence, but we had a bunch of them today. It was really fun.”
The Guardians piled on and flexed their power with a five-run seventh inning. Jose Ramirez homered for the fourth time in three games. It’s the first time that he’s hit a home run in three consecutive games since August 18th-21st, 2021.
“He never ceases to amaze us,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “He’s just fun to watch. You never at any moment. Every at-bat he’s up there, you better be watching.”
Five batters after Ramirez rounded the bases, Bo Naylor would launch a three-run homer 396 feet to right field.
While the Orioles have hit the most homers as a team this season, the Guardians are the more effective club when they hit the long ball. Cleveland’s now 53-18 this season when they hit a home run, the best winning percentage in the majors.
In his first home game with the Guardians, Lane Thomas went 2-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs scored. He extended his on-base streak to a career-high 27 games, the longest active streak in baseball.
“It’s been awesome,” Thomas said. “I just wanted to come in, fit in, do my job, and keep this thing rolling. I feel like we did a good job of that today.”
Ben Lively allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work. Lively managed to give Cleveland six innings after throwing 25 pitches in the first inning. He only walked one batter while recording four strikeouts in his first career start against Baltimore.
“Just minimalizing my misses,” Lively said about settling in after the first inning. “Trying to execute on the sides where I can and can’t miss against a team like that. Just trying to execute.”
Lively earned the win in the series opener and improved his record to 10-6. He’s the first Guardians pitcher to reach 10 wins this season. Lively’s the first Cleveland pitcher to earn 10 wins in his first 19 games with the club since Shane Bieber in 2018.
“I think we’re going to continue to lean on Ben every 5-6 days whenever it’s his turn,” Vogt said. “Ben is taking this role, really the first time he’s been a stable source in any rotation, and he’s not letting it go.”
Carlos Carrasco (3-9, 5.68 ERA) will look to extend Cleveland’s four-game winning streak on Friday. He’ll make his ninth career appearance against Baltimore. Opposing him will be Dean Kremer (4-7, 4.20) for the Orioles in game two of the four-game series.
