David Fry hit a three-run shot for his first major league homer, José Ramírez had three hits and two RBIs, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Thursday.
Josh Naylor had a two-run single and Fry also doubled as the Guardians rapped out 14 hits.
“Boy, he sure helped us. He made some good throws,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of his rookie catcher. “And he helped us offensively and that was good.”
Ramírez reached base four times with a double, two singles and a walk. Amed Rosario had three hits as well.
Manny Machado launched a three-run homer in the first inning, but the Padres were unable to overcome an early 5-0 deficit. San Diego, which had won five of six, was looking for its first three-game sweep this season.
“The top of that lineup, when they are hitting it, they are hitting it out of the ballpark,” Francona said. “That is kind of deflating when we score five and they come right back.”
Both teams turned to the bullpen after the starters were chased early. Trevor Stephan (3-2) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Emmanuel Clase got four outs for his 21st save, most in the majors.
Cleveland scored five times in the first off beleaguered starter Ryan Weathers (1-5), who gave up six runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. The big blows against him were Naylor’s two-run single and Fry’s homer.
“I was pretty fired up. I feel like that was a second before I realized it was a homer. I was sprinting out of there and then I got to home plate and Naylor is bear-hugging me. It was pretty cool,” Fry said. “I was just trying to get something to hit and hopefully keep the inning going and get it to the next guy.”
Machado’s home run to left field on a cutter from Logan Allen shaved it to 5-3 in the bottom half. Allen lasted three innings, allowing five runs, four hits and four walks.
“He was just clearly ready for it. Probably just the wrong pitch at that time. But yeah, it probably got too much of the plate,” Allen said. “Ideally you get a lead and you go out there and get zeros and I wasn’t able to do that. I didn’t really throw strikes out of the gate and I struggled to find the zone.”
After the Padres trimmed it to 6-5 in the third, Ramírez knocked in a run with an infield single in the fourth.
Trent Grisham’s RBI double made it 7-6 in the fifth, but Fry scored on Andrés Giménez’s single in the eighth.
“The add-on run was really big, late,” Francona said. “We kept fighting, so that was good.”
Fernando Tatis Jr. continued to show his defensive prowess with a leaping catch up against the wall in right to rob Cleveland’s Josh Bell of extra bases in the fourth. In Wednesday night’s Padres win, Tatis made a diving catch and had an outfield assist.
MACHADO’S MARK
It was Machado’s 65th home run for the Padres at Petco Park. Wil Myers held the previous team record at the ballpark with 64. Adrian Gonzalez also hit 65 homers at Petco Park, 57 with the Padres.
UP NEXT
Guardians: RHP Triston McKenzie (0-1, 4.50 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series at Arizona on Friday night.
Padres: RHP Yu Darvish (5-4, 4.30) pitches Friday night at home against MLB-best Tampa Bay.
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