Jose Ramirez’s two-run home run in the eighth inning snapped a late tie and lifted the Cleveland Guardians to a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep.
The victory also was Cleveland’s sixth consecutive and solidified its lead in the American League Central.
Earlier in the decisive at-bat, Ramirez swung and missed at a pitch that hit his left foot. But on a 3-1 count, he hit a slider that Angels reliever Ryan Tepera (4-3) left up in the zone and sent it deep into the right-field seats for his 27th of the season.
Oscar Gonzalez had a home run among his three hits for the Guardians, while Andres Gimenez also had three hits.
Mickey Moniak homered and doubled for the Angels, who also got two hits each from Mike Trout, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo.
Cleveland reliever Trevor Stephan (5-4) pitched a scoreless eighth inning and James Karinchak pitched the ninth for his third save.
Angels starter Patrick Sandoval retired the Guardians in order in the first inning, but Gonzalez, who hit a game-winning homer on Tuesday, hit a 2-2 changeup from Sandoval over the fence in left-center for a 1-0 lead leading off the second. It was his ninth of the season.
The Angels responded in the third against Guardians starter Cal Quantrill when Matt Duffy led off with a single and Moniak’s hit a home run with two outs, giving the Angels a 2-1 lead. It was Moniak’s third.
Los Angeles increased its lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Moniak doubled with two out and scored on a single by Trout.
The Guardians matched the run in the fifth after Gimenez and Tyler Freeman singled to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Austin Hedges grounded into a double play, allowing Gimenez to score and cut Cleveland’s deficit to 3-2.
Sandoval pitched into the sixth inning, but after getting the first out of the inning, Ramirez reached on an infield single and went to third on a bloop single by Gonzalez.
That was the end of the day for Sandoval, but he was bailed out by reliever Jimmy Herget, who induced an inning-ending double play from pinch hitter Josh Naylor, holding the 3-2 lead.
Cleveland, though, was able to get even at 3-3 in the seventh inning on Freeman’s RBI double off Herget.
–Field Level Media