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It was the largest offensive outburst for the Guards so far this season. Luis Ortiz also struck out eight over five innings of work to get the victory.
PITTSBURGH — Bo Naylor had a solo home run and two-run double among his three hits and Luis L. Ortiz pitched five innings and beat his former team as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-7 on Friday night.
Naylor homered leading off the third inning to pull the Guardians into a 1-all tie, and his two-run double sparked a three-run fourth that put Cleveland ahead for good at 5-2. The catcher entered the game hitting .162.
Ortiz (2-2) had eight strikeouts in winning his second straight start. Acquired from the Pirates in a three-way trade with Toronto in December, Ortiz gave up two runs, five hits and three walks.
The Pirates scored three runs in the seventh and two in the ninth before Emmanuel Clase got the last out for his third save in four chances, striking out Jack Suwinski with runners on first and second.
The Guardians had 14 hits, including two each by Steven Kwan, Lane Thomas, Jose Ramirez and Gabriel Arias. Johnkensy Noel and Arias hit consecutive two-run doubles in a four-run seventh that pushed the lead to 10-2.
Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Enmanuel Valdez hit home runs for the Pirates. Cruz led off the bottom of the first inning with a homer for a second consecutive game atter connecting against Washington on Thursday.
Reynolds had three hits and two RBIs.
Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3) was tagged for five runs and nine hits in four-plus innings and had no strikeouts.
Cleveland had lost back-to-back games in Baltimore, while the Pirates won three of four games in a series against Washington.
Key moment
Naylor’s double was a line drive to center field that eluded Cruz and broke a 2-all tie.
Key stat
Cruz hit a grand slam on Wednesday before his leadoff home runs on Thursday and Friday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other major leaguer since 1900 to hit two leadoff homers and a grand slam in the span of three games was Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon in 2016.
Up next
The Guardians’ Ben Lively (0-2, 4.87) starts on Saturday against Paul Skenes (2-1, 2.96), who will be featured in a bobblehead giveaway.
