LATE FRIDAY Guardians rally in ninth, spoil Orioles’ comeback
David Fry delivered a two-run double with one out in the ninth inning as Cleveland recovered from closer Emmanuel Clase blowing another save and rallied to beat American League East-leading Baltimore 9-8 Friday night in Ohio.
After Clase (3-9) allowed the Orioles to take the lead on Aaron Hicks’ two-run, two-out double in the top of the ninth, his teammates bailed him out.
Andrés Giménez, who made dazzling defensive plays in the eighth and ninth, opened the inning with a double off Yennier Cano (1-4). One out later, the Orioles intentionally walked Will Brennan to face Fry.
Cleveland’s catcher jumped on Cano’s first pitch, hitting it off the wall in left-center to score both runners as the Guardians spoiled what would have been a memorable comeback by the Orioles.
The loss kept Baltimore 1 ½ games ahead of second-place Tampa Bay.
Anthony Santander had three hits and three RBIs for the Orioles.
“That’s a tough loss,” said manager Brandon Hyde, who was forced to go deep into his wornout bullpen. “We just didn’t pitch well. We hung in there. We got a really nice rally there in the ninth to go up one, another two-strike mistake to lead off the inning, and it’s a tough loss.”
Baltimore was counting on starter Dean Kremer to give them a quality start to protect its tired bullpen, but the right-hander only got through 3 ⅓ innings.
It didn’t help that Kremer’s defense let him down with two errors in the fourth, leading to three Cleveland runs.
Ronald Acuna Jr. joined the exclusive 40-40 club as Atlanta won in Washington.
Atlanta moved four games ahead of the Dodgers for the top seed in the National League. The Braves hold the tiebreaker over Los Angeles based on a 4-3 season series.
Acuna’s 40th homer led off the game against Nationals lefthander Patrick Corbin. The blast was Acuna’s 34th leadoff home run in his career and eighth this season. He is the first player to have 40 homers and at least 60
Braves 9, Nationals 6:
stolen bases in one season.
Braves starter Charlie Morton walked two batters and left the game due to right index-finger discomfort after throwing 24 pitches in the first inning. Michael Tonkin (7-2) earned the win with two innings of work, allowing one run. Raisel Iglesias earned his 30th save.
Nansemond River grad injured:
Though Tampa Bay has made the playoffs and is contending for the American League East championship with Baltimore, the Rays suffered a major loss.
Second baseman Brandon Lowe, from Nansemond River High in Suffolk, will miss four to six weeks with a fractured right patella after fouling a ball off his leg. That will keep him out for most, if not all, of the playoffs.