ANAHEIM, Calif. – José Ramírez homered for the second straight game and the Cleveland Guardians extended their winning streak to eight, beating the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 Saturday night.
It is Cleveland's longest winning run since its AL-record, 22-game run in 2017. It is also the first time since 2001 it has won eight straight in May.
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Unfortunately, it hasn't translated into establishing a large lead in the AL Central. The Guardians remain 1 1/2 games ahead of Kansas City, which has also run off eight straight.
Ramírez's two-run drive in the fourth inning off José Soriano (2-5) extended the Guardians' lead to 4-0. It was his third of the weekend series and sixth in eight games. He's tied for fourth in the majors with 15 home runs and has an MLB-leading 51 RBIs.
“José, I mean, he just does what he does,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “That's a pitcher that's tough to get to, and for us to put up four right there that was the game.”
Bibee (3-1), who grew up 20 miles from Angel Stadium in Mission Viejo, picked up his first win since April 21 after going 0-1 in his previous five starts. The right-hander allowed three runs on six hits and struck out six in six innings.
Emmanuel Clase allowed a leadoff base hit but retired the remaining three hitters in the ninth for his 16th save.
The Angels fell to 6-18 at home despite Taylor Ward's three-run homer in the fourth inning. Soriano, who threw six shutout innings in a 6-0 victory at Cleveland on May 3, struck out eight in six innings, but gave up four runs on four hits.
“We had all kinds of opportunities to cash in, we just didn't get the hit,” manager Ron Washington said.
The Halos had their opportunities to tie, but had critical mistakes on the basepaths. They were caught stealing twice by Cleveland catcher Bo Naylor, and Luis Rengifo was thrown out by Guardians' left fielder Estevan Florial when he tried to extend a base hit into a double.
“Those plays were huge. Whenever the defense kind of picks me up like that it fires you up,” said Bibee, who had 50 friends and family at The Big A.
Cleveland was up 2-0 on Tyler Freeman's RBI base hit and Brayan Rocchio scoring on a wild pitch when Ramírez drove a full-count knuckle curve just over the short fence in the right-field corner for a two-run shot.
It was Ramírez’s 10th homer in May, tied for second in the majors.
“I'm going to have to stop that guy from swinging the bat when there's runners in scoring position because he's an RBI machine. Tomorrow I'm not going to let him swing it with runners in scoring position,” Washington said.
The Angels responded with three in the third. Kyren Paris drew a walk and Rengifo doubled to left when Ward connected on Bibee's fastball for his team-leading 13th home run of the season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Guardians: OF Steven Kwan (acute left hamstring strain) hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning for Single-A Lake County during its game against West Michigan on Saturday. Kwan played six innings in right field and was 1-for-3 with three RBIs. He is expected to be the designated hitter for Lake County on Sunday.
Angels: OF Mike Trout (left knee) is riding on a stationary bike and elliptical, but there isn't a timetable on when he will be able to resume baseball activities.
UP NEXT
Cleveland RHP Ben Lively (3-2, 2.84 ERA), mistakenly called Blake Lively by Mets' broadcaster Gary Cohen last week and had the moment go viral, will take the mound for the series finale. LHP Reid Detmers (3-4, 5.80) goes for Los Angeles.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb