Guardians bash Baltimore to open big American League four-game series

CLEVELAND — A pair of American League heavyweights squared off Thursday night at Progressive Field in what could be an October postseason preview. The Guardians proved they were up to the task and then some. Scoring five times in the first three innings, three on David Fry's first home run since May 31, first-place Cleveland opened a big AL series against East Division leader Baltimore with a 10-3 win in front of 26,194 fans. Jose Ramirez put the game away with a two-run homer in the seventh, going deep for the third time in three games, while driving in three runs and scoring twice for the Guardians, who entered the night owning the majors' top record. And Bo Naylor added the exclamation point by clouting a three-run homer in Cleveland's five-run inning. "I don't know if it sends a message. Baseball's such a game of day-to-day," manager Stephen Vogt said of his team, which outhomered the major league leaders in the department. "We played a really good game today, got to their starter and then added on with the bullpen. That's a great recipe to win any game. "I think for us it's go out and play our game every night. Take what they give us, and tonight that happened to be homers." The Guardians led 2-1 in the third inning when Fry belted a 3-2 sinker from Orioles starter Trevor Rogers an estimated 407 feet to left-center. "I wasn't sure I could still do it," joked Fry of his homer. "It was nice to see it go over the fence. We had a bunch of them today. It was really fun." "I feel like the last week he really just got back to who he is," Vogt said of Fry. "For a while, not playing the field much, trying to do a little too much at the plate. For David it was just 'what got you here was being you.' That's taking walks and working counts. "That was vintage David right there. Work the count, work the count, get a pitch and don't miss it. That was really beautiful." Of Cleveland's 10 runs, five came off Rogers, who was making his first appearance since being acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Marlins on Tuesday. It was more than enough for Cleveland starter Ben Lively and the bullpen. After allowing doubles to two of the first three batters — Colton Cowser and Gunnar Henderson — Lively only gave up one more run, limiting the Orioles to four hits while striking out four over six innings. "It was just minimizing my misses," Lively said. "Trying to execute on the sides where I can miss and where I can't against a team like that, and just try to execute." The right-hander, who took over for injured ace Shane Bieber, has posted a 3.42 ERA over 19 starts, allowing more than two runs only five times, while surrendering more than three only twice. "It's been incredible," Fry said of Lively's performance thus far. "We signed him as a free agent on a big league deal and he was sick coming out of (training) camp. 'Maybe he'll be a starter. We don't really know.' And then he's been the most consistent guy we've had. "Just goes out there, throws five to six (innings), gives up one run, and we got a really good chance to win every night. He's been awesome." Lane Thomas played his first game in Cleveland since being acquired Monday from the Nationals prior to the trade deadline, starting in center field and batting second. He doubled to the left-field corner in his first at-bat and scored the go-ahead run in the opening inning. The hit extended Thomas' major league-leading streak of reaching base to 27 games. He added another double to lead off the seventh, scoring on Ramirez's 28th homer. "Pretty good first two games for him," Vogt said of Thomas, who made his Guardians debut Tuesday in Detroit. "Red-eye and getting the big knock and then tonight with the big game. I really love what Lane does to our lineup, and he's really going to be a good staple in the outfield for us." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.