The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Guardians 9-5 Wednesday as a Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit by pitch off Foster Griffin capped a decisive third-inning rally that put Baltimore ahead for good, and the gave the Orioles a series win against the team that holds the final American League wild-card spot.
The Guardians struck first, with Chase DeLauter's two-run homer in the top of the first giving Cleveland a 2-0 lead. Baltimore answered in the third with eight runs, the go-ahead moment coming when Encarnacion-Strand was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Dylan Beavers to make it 3-2. The inning kept rolling — Jackson Holliday singled home a run, Rece Hinds added a sacrifice fly, Jeremiah Jackson and Leody Taveras each drove in a run with singles, and Beavers capped the frame with an RBI single to push the lead to 8-2.
Cleveland pulled within three in the sixth on Nathaniel Lowe's two-run homer and a Patrick Bailey RBI double, but Coby Mayo answered with a solo shot in the bottom half to restore a four-run cushion.
Beavers finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and a double to lead Baltimore's offense, and Griffin took the loss after allowing eight earned runs on seven hits in just 2.1 innings.
"He can really pitch. He's got a big arsenal with a ton of different pitches," Beavers said. "Our game plan going into it was swing at the strikes, don't play into his game, and don't try to do too much. Every guy, top to bottom, especially in that third inning, shortened up, put some in play and sure enough, good stuff happened."
Mayo went 1-for-3 with his 22nd home run and scored twice.
Shane Baz picked up the win, going 5.2 innings and allowing five earned runs, while Rico Garcia earned the save with 1.2 scoreless innings and three strikeouts.
The win improves Baltimore to 71-76, three games behind Cleveland for the final AL wild-card spot with the season winding down.