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07/09 21:39 CDT Guardians sweep Astros with back-to-back homers from Martnez
and Ramrez
Guardians sweep Astros with back-to-back homers from Martnez and Ramrez
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) --- Jos Ramrez homered for a third straight game, Angel Martnez
also went deep and the Cleveland Guardians got a 4-2 win over the Houston
Astros on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
It's the first time the Guardians, who entered the series on a 10-game skid,
have won three in a row since a four-game winning streak from May 21-24.
Slade Cecconi (4-4) allowed five hits and two runs with a career-best nine
strikeouts in 7-plus innings for the win. Paul Sewald pitched a scoreless ninth
for his second save.
Martnez homered for a second straight at-bat with his shot to the Crawford
Boxes with one out in the first inning. His grand slam with two outs in the
10th inning Tuesday night lifted Cleveland to a 10-6 win.
Four pitches after Martinez's homer Wednesday, Ramrez also connected off
Brandon Walter (1-2) to make it 2-0. Walter settled in after that, retiring the
next 17 batters, with seven strikeouts before Bennett Sousa took over to start
the seventh.
Ramrez and Carlos Santana hit consecutive singles with no outs in the inning
before David Fry walked to load the bases. Johnathan Rodrguez then singled to
score two and extend the lead to 4-0.
The Astros had managed just four singles when Taylor Trammell walked with no
outs in the eighth and scored on a double by Mauricio Dubn that cut the lead
to 4-1. There were two outs in the inning when Jose Altuve's RBI double made it
4-2.
The AL West-leading Astros went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position to cap
this disappointing series which came after they swept the Dodgers in Los
Angeles over the weekend.
Key moment Martnez and Ramrez had back-to-back homers in the first. Key stat Ramrez, who dropped out of next week's All-Star game Wednesday to rehab a nagging Achilles injury, has four homers and seven RBIs this month. Up next LHP Logan Allen (5-7, 4.07 ERA) will start for Cleveland in the opener of a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox Thursday night. The Astros are off Thursday and haven't announced their rotation for their weekend series against the Rangers. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB |
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