CLEVELAND — Josh Naylor drove in two runs and Andrés Giménez delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, lifting the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-5 victory over the struggling Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Giménez, a first-time All-Star, hit a two-out flare to left field off Michael Fulmer (2-4) that scored rookie Steven Kwan from second base. One batter earlier, Naylor knocked in Myles Straw with a sacrifice fly to tie it 5-all.
Bryan Shaw (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings and Trevor Stephan worked the ninth for his second save. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase, whose 19 saves are tied for most in the AL, was unavailable after pitching the previous two days.
Prized rookie Riley Greene homered and tied his season high with three RBIs for the Tigers, who have lost seven of eight. Harold Castro had two doubles and a single.
Greene hit a solo homer in the third to pull the Tigers to 3-1, then gave them a 5-3 lead in the fourth with a two-run double off Zach Plesac. Detroit scored four times in the fourth, with Harold Castro and Willi Castro driving in the first two.
Greene, who made his major league debut on June 18, has three multi-RBI performances in 26 games with the Tigers. All three have come against Cleveland, along with two of his seven two-hit games.
The Guardians went in front 3-0 in the first when their first three batters reached and scored. All-Star José Ramírez singled in Kwan, Naylor brought home Amed Rosario, and Owen Miller’s first career triple plated Ramírez.
Ramírez leads the AL with 70 RBIs. Giménez went 2 for 3 to raise his batting average to .299.
Tigers starter Drew Hutchison gave up four runs over five innings in his second outing against the Guardians in 11 days. The right-hander is 1-0 against Cleveland and 0-4 against the rest of the majors.
Plesac matched his shortest outing of the year at 3 2/3 innings, allowing five runs, three of them unearned because of an error by Ramírez at third base. The right-hander remained winless since June 5 against Baltimore, a span of seven starts.
More Guardians coverage:
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