Guardians use six home runs to blast Reds, clinch interleague series

CLEVELAND — "Guards Ball" can usually be described as a gritty, high-energy style that emphasizes fundamental play, aggressive baserunning, situational hitting and elite pitching and defense. Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, it included power — lots of it. The Guardians abandoned their small ball style in favor of a season-high six home runs, blasting Cincinnati 10-3 for their fifth win in six games and eighth in the last 11. It was the most homers in a game for Cleveland since it clouted seven against the Yankees in New York on Aug. 15, 2019, and the most at home since seven against the Phillies on April 30, 2013. "They threw us six homer balls today and we hit them all. It was just a fun day all around," manager Stephen Vogt said. Chase DeLauter hit just his second homer since April 3 to score the first two runs of the game in the opening inning off Reds starter Brady Singer, who allowed three homers within four innings. Kyle Manzardo also hit a two-run homer to put Cleveland in front 4-1 in the third, ending a streak of 81 plate appearances without a homer, before going deep again in the fifth for his fourth career multihomer game. He entered the day with two homers in 41 games. Brayan Rocchio, who hit five homers in 115 games last year, hit his fourth in the fourth, while Angel Martinez hit his team-leading ninth in the seventh and has gone deep in four of his last five games. The Guardians may not be considered a home run team, but they have shown the ability to hit the ball out of the park. "I think we're young and a lot of people don't get into their power until (ages) 25-28, and we're starting to get into those age ranges for a lot of our guys," Vogt said. "As you get older, you learn when to take shots. You learn how to attack certain pitches. I don't know if we're going to be a 250 home run team, I doubt it, but it was nice to see the ball fly out of here." "The first warm day (season-high 79 degrees at first pitch), I think that had something to do with it, too." "We've got a lot of guys that haven't necessarily done it for a super long time, but a lot of us kind of got these big league reps, so you see different guys kind of blossom into who they are, which is really cool," Manzardo said. "You show up knowing you can hit the ball in the air (when it's warm) and have that confidence that it's going to travel. I don't check the weather in Cleveland. Stuff pops up here all the time." Jose Ramirez ended a long ball drought with his first since April 19 to cap the scoring in the eighth. "We've talked about Hosey for a week now. It seems likes his at-bats are getting better," Vogt said. Right-hander Gavin Williams was the beneficiary of the wealth of run support, shaking off recent struggles to allow two runs — one on a solo homer to Elly De La Cruz — and strike out seven over six innings. "They were killing it today," Williams said of his hitters. "It's phenomenal to see that as a pitcher. The more homers you see, the more you love it, especially if it's on your side. It's awesome seeing what the guys can do." With the Guardians nursing a one-run lead in the third, Williams allowed three straight singles and the tying run, but got a big pick off before retiring two straight to limit the damage. "I think it was a momentum shift for sure," Williams said. "I felt it coming. I guess the dugout felt it was coming, too. I even went in and told them I was going to do a little pickoff myself. It worked out, helped me out a little bit, too." Williams has already picked off three this year. "I don't know, I guess I'm a big guy and they don't think I can do it. I guess that's the secret," he said. The Guardians scored all of their runs without a hit with runners in scoring position. It marked only the ninth time — first for Cleveland — in MLB history that a team has scored 10 or more runs without a hit with RISP. Travis Bazzana recorded the first three-hit game of his career with three singles. Patrick Bailey's double in the sixth snapped an 0-for-15 start to his Guardians career. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.