Sept. 21—Jose Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI, and the visiting Cleveland Browns beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5–1 on Friday.
Andres Gimenez and Ryan Thomas also scored for the Guardians (90-65), who won for the sixth time in seven games.
The Kansas City Royals dropped the magic number for the American League Central title to one goal after they lost 2-1 to the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
Guardians starting pitcher Ben Lively (13-9) allowed one run on three hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Eric Sabrowski worked the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his first save of the season.
Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (8-8) allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks in six innings for the Cardinals (77-77). He struck out two.
Cleveland was up 1-0 in the third inning. Daniel Schneeman drew a walk, Angel Martinez’s single moved to third and Ramirez’s two-out single scored.
After Josh Naylor loaded the bases, Gibson got Thomas on an inning-ending popup.
Lively retires the first seven batters she faces until Thomas Sarkis hits a double in the third inning. But Pedro Pages and Maxine Wing are in trouble for grounding out.
The Warriors increased their lead to 2–0 in the fourth game. Beau Naylor hit a two-out infield single, moved to second on a throwing error, and scored on Schneeman’s single.
The Cardinals cut the deficit to 2–1 in the bottom of the inning after Alec Burleson’s two-run homer and a grounder to third.
Brendan Donovan doubled and Lars Nootbaar doubled down the left field line.
Ramírez extended Cleveland’s lead to 3–1 with a fifth-inning home run, and then Jiménez extended the lead to 4–1 with a sixth-inning home run.
Thomas hit a home run in the eighth inning, increasing the Guardians’ lead to 5–1.
–Visual-level media
