Milestone for Ramirez, Guardians keep pace with wild card
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CLEVELAND (AP) -- José Ramírez homered, hit his 1,000th career single and drove in four while Parker Messick struck out five and gave up one run in six innings to lead the Cleveland Guardians past the Kansas City Royals 11-1 on Sunday.
Cleveland (69-68) holds the third American League wild card.
Ramírez’s RBI single in the sixth inning plated Jac Caglianone, helping him become the 11th player in Cleveland history to achieve the feat. His two-run home run in the fourth inning extended the Guardians’ lead to 9-1 and was his first at Progressive Field since May 17.
After a 30-minute weather delay, Ramírez opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 1 before Nathaniel Lowe sent his 15th homer of the season over the left-center field wall for a 3-1 Cleveland lead.
Jo Adell hit a two-run double in the third, and Lowe added an RBI sacrifice fly.
Chase DeLauter finished 4 for 4, his third career four-hit game, which included an RBI double in the fourth inning, and Adell capped the scoring with a one-run single in the sixth to help the Guardians avoid a series sweep.
Messick (11-8) allowed five hits. Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith combined for two hits to close out the game.
Salvador Perez plated the Royals’ run with an RBI single in the first.
PIRATES 5, CARDINALS 4
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Esmerlyn Valdez and Jared Triolo homered, Brandon Lowe added an RBI single and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Sunday.
Braxton Ashcraft (14-5) held St. Louis without an extra-base hit over five innings to become the first Pirates pitcher since 2018 (Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams) to reach 14 wins. He allowed two runs on six hits, struck out three and walked one.
In the second inning, Valdez hit a two-run home run off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5-13) that stayed just inside the right-field foul pole. Triolo drilled a 412-foot blast into the left-field stands in the fifth inning to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-0.
Thomas Saggese singled three times and scored twice. He moved into the St. Louis lineup after infielder JJ Wetherholt was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with right wrist tendinitis.
Alec Burleson achieved his first 100 RBI season when he and Iván Herrera had back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the fifth inning.
Herrera also had an RBI double in the seventh to pull St. Louis within 5-4. Yohan Ramirez got Nolan Gorman to fly out to end that threat with runners on second and third.
Mason Montgomery earned his seventh save with a spotless ninth.