Guardians complete sweep of Marlins
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MIAMI (AP) -- Joey Cantillo struck out nine over five innings of one-run ball, Brayan Rocchio homered and drove in two and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Miami Marlins 5-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Rookie Chase DeLauter also went deep while Steven Kwan and Khalil Watson each had two hits for the Guardians, who are 51-46 going into the All-Star break.
The Marlins had won six straight at home entering the series and were a major league-best 26-8 since June 1. They enter the break at 52-45.
Cantillo (8-4) allowed six hits and walked two. The left-hander escaped a bases-loaded situation with no outs in the second, when he retired Esteury Ruiz on a pop-out before striking out Rece Hinds and Brian Navarreto.
Cleveland starters limited Miami to four runs over 17 2/3 innings in the series, while relievers allowed two runs over the remaining 9 1/3 innings.
The Marlins’ Otto López, who had a major league-leading .345 batting average before the opener, went 0-for-12 in the series and his average dropped 11 points.
Franco Aleman, Hunter Gaddis and Shawn Armstrong each followed Cantillo with a scoreless inning. Griffin Conine hit a solo homer off closer Cade Smith, who pitched the ninth.
Run-scoring singles from Rocchio and Kyle Manzardo against Miami starter Tyler Phillips in the first gave Cleveland an early lead.
The Marlins narrowed the deficit on Xavier Edwards’ RBI single in the third.
Rocchio homered to lead off the fifth and give Cleveland another two-run advantage. He drove a fastball from Marlins reliever Michael Petersen over the wall in right for his eighth homer.
Watson’s RBI single in the seventh made it 4-1 before DeLauter connected off Pete Fairbanks with a solo drive in the ninth.
Although Phillips (2-4) has moved into the Marlins’ rotation after beginning the season as a reliever, his appearance on Sunday was limited in the bullpen game. Phillips exited after the first as the Marlins used six relievers.
Up next
Guardians: Open a three-game home series against Pittsburgh on Friday.
Marlins: Will begin a three-game road series at Milwaukee on Friday.
CUBS 8, REDS 4
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Alex Bregman had a season-high four RBIs, including a three-run homer in a four-run seventh inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 Sunday.
Chicago took two of three from the Reds and entered the All-Star break at 54-42, in position for an NL wild card and five games back of NL Central-leading Milwaukee.
Cincinnati (43-52) lost its fourth straight series and is last in the division.
Bregman was a triple shy of the cycle after hitting a two-run homer Saturday. He had a go-ahead RBI double in the first, singled in the fifth and hit his ninth home run of the season, a drive off Pierce Johnson.
Bregman is hitting .241 with 41 RBIs after signing a $175 million, five-year contract.
Matthew Boyd (5-1) improved to 5-0 in eight starts since losing his opening outing, allowing four runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Jacob Webb got two outs for his fifth save.
With the score 4-4, Dansby Swanson doubled off Chase Petty (1-2) starting the seventh and scored on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s one-out single off Sam Moll, his first hit of the series.
Michael Busch’s RBI double in the first built a 2-0 lead.
Cincinnati went ahead 4-2 in the third when Spencer Steer hit an RBI grounder, JJ Bleday singled in a run and Eugenio Suárez hit his 200th homer, a two-run drive.
Reds starter Andrew Abbott gave up four runs, four hits and three walks in four innings.
Up next
Cubs: Hosts Minnesota starting Friday.
Reds: Begin the second half Friday at Colorado.