Andres Gimenez had three hits and scored two runs for the visiting Cleveland Guardians in a 6-4 win against the Oakland Athletics in the second game of their four-game series on Friday night.
Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer, Steven Kwan had two hits and two runs scored and Josh Naylor had two hits and a run for the Guardians, who won the season opener 8-0 on Thursday.
Cleveland starter Logan Allen (1-0) allowed three runs and six hits in five-plus innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter.
Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.
J.D. Davis homered twice and Shea Langeliers and Nick Allen had two hits each for the A’s.
Oakland starter Ross Stripling (0-1) allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked two.
After a one-out single by Gimenez in the first inning, Ramirez fouled off two straight two-strike pitches before pulling a fastball over the fence in right field for a 2-0 lead.
Naylor then dumped a double just inside the left-field line, took third on an error by third baseman Darell Hernaiz and scored on a balk for a 3-0 lead.
The A’s scored their first run of the season when Davis homered to center field to lead off the fourth and cut the lead to 3-1.
Kwan singled to lead off the fifth, stole second and continued to third on a throwing error by catcher Langeliers. Gimenez then doubled into the right-field corner to score Kwan for a 4-1 lead.
After Stripling retired the next two batters, Will Brennan lined a single in front of diving left fielder Esteury Ruiz to make it 5-1.
Allen led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ruiz to cut it to 5-2.
Davis went deep again to lead off the bottom of the sixth and trim the deficit to 5-3, ending Allen’s night.
Gimenez delivered another RBI double in the seventh to make it 6-3.
Davis came up in the eighth after Scott Barlow walked the first two batters, but struck out on three pitches. An ensuing wild pitch led to Langeliers’ sacrifice fly that cut it to 6-4.
–Field Level Media