Kyle Manzardo hit a pair of homers and Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio drove in two runs apiece, sending the Cleveland Guardians to a 10-4 rout over the visiting Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
Manzardo had three RBIs in his second career two-homer game, giving him 17 blasts in his first full season in the majors. He had a two-run shot in the third inning against Tanner Gordon (2-3) and a solo homer off Jimmy Herget three frames later.
Cleveland has split the first two games of the series and is 7-5 since the All-Star break, leaving it on the periphery of the American League postseason race.
Guardians starter Logan Allen (7-9) matched his career high by going seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits. The left-hander struck out three and walked one, surrendering homers to Jordan Beck in the fourth and Michael Toglia in the seventh.
Allen threw 114 pitches, the most by a Cleveland pitcher since Aaron Civale also had 114 on May 19, 2021. Civale was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Manzardo two years ago when the Guardians fell out of playoff contention.
The Guardians built a 7-0 lead in three innings against Gordon, who gave up six earned runs on eight hits. The right-hander struck out two and walked a pair in his fifth appearance for Colorado, sandwiched around three callups from Triple-A Albuquerque.
Cleveland scored two runs in the first on Arias’ bad-hop single past shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, scoring Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann. It tacked on a run in the second when David Fry came around after leading off with a single.
Gordon committed a unique balk in the second, falling off the mound without releasing the ball when his left plant foot slipped. Fry advanced to second, then scored on Brayan Rocchio’s single when left fielder Beck committed an error.
Kyle Farmer accounted for Colorado’s final run with a homer in the ninth against Tim Herrin. The Rockies have the worst record in the majors at 28-79, including 21-46 under interim manager Warren Schaeffer.
–Field Level Media
