CLEVELAND (AP) — Josh Bell homered off an “Ohio” sign beyond the left-field wall and Myles Straw hit an RBI triple, leading the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 win on Thursday and three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics, who lost their eighth straight.
Bell's 430-foot shot in the fifth inning off JP Sears (1-5) smacked the “H” on the sign affixed to a pedestrian walkway in Progressive Field. The blast tied it and Straw put Cleveland ahead in the inning with his two-out shot to left.
The A's have baseball's worst record at 19-58.
Oakland's mark through 77 games is the worst in the majors since the Detroit Tigers went 18-59 to start 2003.
The A's were still within 2-1 in the eighth before reliever Yacksel Rios allowed four runs on two wild pitches and two bases-loaded walks.
Nick Sandlin (3-3) pitched two hitless innings in relief of Cleveland starter Logan Allen. Enyel De Los Santos worked two innings — getting a double play to end the seventh — and Eli Morgan finished the combined three-hitter.
Sears didn’t allow Cleveland a baserunner until the fourth, when José Ramírez fouled off three pitches with two strikes before grounding a two-out single into left. Ramírez, though, was thrown out trying to steal by A’s catcher Carlos Pérez.
Sears had faced the minimum through 4 1-3 innings before Bell connected for his seventh homer this season and 500th career RBI. Andrés Giménez followed with a bloop single and stole second before Straw, who hasn't homered since Aug. 26, 2021 — more than 1,000 plate appearances — tripled.
Sears allowed just four hits and struck out eight in seven innings.
Tony Kemp's speed helped the A's take a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Aledmys Diaz's sacrifice fly.
After drawing a leadoff walk, Kemp was running when Esteury Ruiz hit a grounder to short. Kemp never slowed while rounding second and beat first baseman Bell's throw to third. Diaz followed with his fly to deep center.
Allen had to work hard to make it through just four innings, throwing 89 pitches.
The left-hander got himself into trouble in the fourth, when he walked three to load the bases. But with two outs, Allen froze Oakland's Shea Langeliers with a changeup for strike three to escape danger.
EXTRA, EXTRA
The A's have already played 10 extra-inning games, matching their total in 2022.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Guardians: As expected, OF Will Brennan (left shoulder soreness) got the day off after he fell hard while making a diving catch on the warning track in the fourth inning Wednesday night. Brennan is batting .327 (34 of 104) since May 16.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Head North to Toronto, where RHP James Kaprielian (2-6, 6.38 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (7-5, 4.16).
Guardians: RHP Shane Bieber (5-4, 3.51 ), who could be traded in the upcoming weeks, starts the opener of a three-game set against Milwaukee and Brewers RHP Wade Miley (4-2, 3.28). Miley pitched a no-hitter at Progressive Field in 2021 with Cincinnati.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
