Ramírez homers, McKenzie sharp as Cleveland downs Astros 6-1

José Ramírez homered with four RBI and Triston McKenzie pitched seven sharp innings to help the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night.

Ramírez had two hits, highlighted by a two-run shot in the fifth inning that pushed the lead to 4-0.

McKenzie (3-3) permitted just three hits as he pitched a season-high seven innings for his second consecutive start. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by Alex Bregman to start the seventh.

Houston starter Luis Garcia (3-3) allowed five hits and four runs, two of which were earned, but the other two came because of his throwing error in the third.

There was one out in the third when Luke Maile and Myles Straw hit consecutive singles. Amed Rosario then reached on a fielder’s choice on a grounder hit to Garcia. The pitcher badly overthrew second base for an error that allowed Maile to score and the two other runners to advance a base.

A groundout by Ramírez scored Straw to make it 2-0 before Garcia struck out Owen Miller to end the inning.

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Maile walked to start the fifth before Ramírez smacked his homer to the bullpen in right center. José Siri tracked it to the wall and leaped to try and catch it, but it sailed just out of his reach.

McKenzie walked Yordan Alvarez with no outs in the second but didn’t allow a hit until Martín Maldonado singled with one out in the third. Jose Altuve grounded into a double play to end the third and McKenzie retired the next eight batters after that.

He got some help on the first out of the sixth when shortstop Andrés Giménez snagged a grounder hit by Siri and spun around to make a nifty throw that beat the speedy outfielder to first.

Houston couldn’t get much going offensively aside from Bregman’s homer.

They had just four hits and went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.

Altuve doubled off the wall in center field with two outs in the sixth before Michael Brantley hit a fly out to end the inning.

The Guardians tacked on two runs in the seventh inning with the help of some more sloppy defense by the Astros. Maile singled with no outs and took second on a wild pitch by Bryan Abreu. Straw walked before a single by Rosario loaded the bases.

Ramírez then grounded into a force out that left Rosario out at second. But rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña overthrew first for an error on the play and two runs scored to make it 6-0.

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