Matt McClain homered and drove in three runs and the visiting Cincinnati Reds held on for a 7-6 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night.
J.J. Bleday was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Reds, who won their second straight.
Jose Ramirez was 3-for-4 and drove in a run for the Guardians, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Cleveland scored four in the eighth to make it 6-5. Graham Ashcraft threw 12 straight balls to load the bases with none out and Travis Bazzana’s single made it 6-2. Brock Burke took over and struck out pinch hitter Austin Hedges but then walked Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan to force in two runs and Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly.
Bleday’s fielder’s choice grounder in the top of the ninth made it 7-5.
Angel Martinez’s groundout in the bottom of the ninth scored a run.
Tejay Antone got his first save.
Winner Andrew Abbott (3-2) allowed a run on four hits in five innings plus with three walks and two strikeouts. He extended his shutout streak to 21 2/3 innings.
Hoskins’ leadoff home run in the sixth broke that streak and put the Guardians on the board at 3-1.
Loser Tanner Bibee (0-6) went 6 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Cleveland has lost nine of his 10 starts.
The Reds scored three runs in the eighth, highlighted by McClain’s two-run homer, his fifth of the season, to make it 6-1. It scored Spencer Steer, who had brought in a run with a single.
Cincinnati took a 2-0 lead in the second on a bases-loaded walk to McLain and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Stephenson.
Elly De La Cruz made it 3-0 with a two-out, run-scoring double in the fifth.
Members of the 2016 Cleveland A.L. pennant-winning team, that was called the Indians at the time, were honored before the game. That included current Guardian Jose Ramirez, Reds’ manager Terry Francona and his assistant bench coach Mike Napoli.
–Field Level Media
