Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn homered to overcome a head-turning debut from Cleveland Guardians rookie Jhonkensy Noel as the Orioles snapped a season-worst, five-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday.
Noel homered in his first big-league at-bat and teammate Gabriel Arias also went deep, but the Guardians had their seven-game winning streak end as they failed to complete a three-game series sweep.
Mullins led off the seventh inning with his eighth homer of the season, breaking a 2-2 tie with the blast off reliever Xzavion Curry (0-2). O’Hearn’s 10th long ball, also off Curry, leading off the eighth ended the scoring.
Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez held the Guardians to two runs and five hits in seven innings. Rodriguez (9-3), who struck out four without issuing a walk, recorded a victory for the fourth time in his last five starts.
Henderson hit his 26th homer of the season in the fifth inning, a tying solo shot.
Noel, a 22-year-old first baseman, smacked his homer 413 feet in the second inning, meaning the Guardians scored in the opening inning in all three games of the series. Noel ended up 1-for-4, making the game’s last out with his second strikeout of the night.
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs on six hits across five innings with two walks and three strikeouts.
All five homers in the game were solo shots. There were few signs of rallies in the game, with the teams combining to leave nine runners on base.
The Orioles, who loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and didn’t score, tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second on a two-out double from Jorge Mateo and an RBI single from Henderson.
Cionel Perez and Craig Kimbrel, who notched his 17th save, each worked a scoreless inning in relief for Baltimore.
Mullins and Mateo both had two hits for the Orioles, who are 1-2 to open a seven-game homestand.
Arias finished with two of Cleveland’s five hits.
–Field Level Media
