Jose Ramirez and David Fry each hit a two-run homer and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 7-6 victory over the visiting New York Mets on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
With Cleveland ahead 3-2 in the fifth, and a man on, Ramirez, who also recorded an RBI double, sent a pitch from Adrian Houser (0-4) high over the right-center-field wall.
Ramirez’s 12th homer of the season proved to be quite valuable, as Jeff McNeil sent a two-run blast of his own over the right-center-field fence in the top of the sixth to pull New York within 5-4.
However, Fry came on as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the frame and, with a man on first, put Jake Diekman’s fastball into the right field seats. The Mets once again got within a run on Starling Marte’s two-run shot in the eighth, but that was the closest they would get.
Emmanuel Clase worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 15th save. Nick Sandlin (4-0) got the win with two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen.
Mark Vientos also homered for the Mets, who have dropped the first two games of the three-game set and are 9-19 in their past 28 contests. Houser, relegated to the bullpen after posting an 8.16 ERA in his first six starts of the year before getting the nod on Tuesday, was charged with six runs and six hits in five-plus innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Meanwhile, Guardians starter Xzavion Curry yielded two runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier Tuesday. Curry didn’t issue a walk and fanned two.
Houser hit Bo Naylor with a pitch in the third, then allowed RBI doubles to Brayan Rocchio and Tyler Freeman. Ramirez soon brought Freeman home with a double to make it 3-0 Cleveland.
New York got to Curry in the fifth, when Vientos went deep to center to get the Mets on the board. McNeil then doubled and eventually scored on a single by ex-Guardian Francisco Lindor as New York cut its deficit to 3-2.
–Field Level Media
