Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis L. Ortiz throws to the Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 21, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Trending
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Luis Ortiz struck out 10 in six scoreless innings of two-hit ball and José Ramírez capped a four-run second with his 900th RBI as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Athletics 4-2 on Saturday night.Bo Naylor and Johnathan Rodríguez had back-to-back RBI doubles off Athletics starter Mitch Spence (2-2). Steven Kwan and Ramírez added run-scoring singles for a 4-0 lead.
Ortiz (4-8) walked two and matched his season high for strikeouts. He allowed 14 hits and 10 earned runs in his two previous starts covering 10 2/3 innings.Emmanuel Clase pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 17th save in 20 opportunities.Austin Wynns had an RBI double off reliever Cade Smith in the seventh for the Athletics. Brent Rooker led off the eighth with a triple against Hunter Gaddis before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Max Muncy.Spence made 22 relief appearances before making his fourth straight start. He gave up four runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings. He permitted just two runs -- on solo homers -- and pitched five innings in each of his first three starts.Cleveland (38-37) won for the third time on a nine-game trip that ends Sunday.
The Athletics (32-47) fell to 15-26 at their temporary home, Sutter Health Park.Key momentWith runners on second and third in the seventh, Smith struck out Denzel Clarke and retired Jacob Wilson on a line drive to first base to keep it 4-1.Key statThe Athletics have scored 335 runs to the Guardians' 283, but A's pitchers have given up 459 runs -- 150 more than Cleveland.
Up nextGuardians RHP Slade Cecconi (2-3, 4.15 ERA) starts Sunday opposite Athletics lefty JP Sears (5-6, 5.45) to close out the series.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
AP