CLEVELAND — José Ramírez and rookie Travis Bazzana homered and Joey Cantillo pitched six scoreless innings as the Cleveland Guardians rallied to beat the Athletics 5-3 on Friday night and stay atop the AL Central.
Ramírez connected in the sixth inning to give the Guardians a two-run cushion. His 12th homer was also the seven-time All-Star’s 1,000th RBI, making him just the second Cleveland player to reach the plateau. Earl Averill drove in 1,084 runs.
Bazzana snapped a 3-3 tie in the fifth as the Guardians came back after falling behind 3-0 in the first.
Cleveland, 18-9 since Aug. 20, came in tied with Chicago for first in the division. The White Sox hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Cantillo (10-9) allowed two hits in six innings after replacing opener Daniel Espino. Cantillo has not given up a run in 10 innings over his past two outings.
Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith finished off the combined three-hitter. Smith worked the ninth for his 38th save.
Zack Gelof hit a three-run homer for the A’s, who are 0-4 on their final road trip of 2026. The Athletics plan to move to Las Vegas in 2028, when they are scheduled to open play at a new ballpark on the Strip.
Bazzana put Cleveland ahead 4-3 in the fifth with his 15th homer, a 411-foot leadoff drive to center off Scott Blewett (2-1).
The Guardians had squandered early scoring chances, loading the bases in the first two innings but failing to push a run across.
Cleveland finally strung some hits together in the fourth, scoring three times off starter Mason Barnett to tie it.
Rocchio, who leads all MLB No. 9 hitters in RBI with 50, delivered a two-run double and scored on Ramírez’s two-out single.
Espino opened for Cleveland and started poorly.
The right-hander walked three in the first and allowed the three-run homer to Gelof, his 19th.
Up next
LHP Jacob Lopez (6-4, 5.02 ERA) starts Saturday for Oakland against Tanner Bibee (6-15, 4.16), who has gotten minimal support (3.05 runs per game) this season.
