Zach Eflin's strong start gives Orioles win over Guardians

CLEVELAND — Zach Eflin won his second straight start since joining Baltimore's rotation and Gunnar Henderson had three hits and an RBI as the Orioles stopped Cleveland's five-game winning streak, beating the Guardians 7-4 on Saturday night.

Eflin (7-7) cooled off the AL Central-leading Guardians, holding them to two runs — a two-run homer — and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander was acquired from Tampa Bay on July 26 for three minor leaguers.

“He made one bad pitch," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Besides that, it was a professional effort — sinker, cutter, a bunch of strikes. Our fielders need to be ready. He gets a ton of ground balls.

"This is exactly what we’ve seen him do to us, honestly. He’s really tough to hit.”

Baltimore's Adley Rutschman had a pinch-hit, two-run triple in the eighth inning when the Orioles scored four times to take a 7-2 lead.

Henderson snapped a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the fifth as Baltimore stayed tied with the New York Yankees atop the AL East.

After being outscored 18-7 in the first two games of the series, the Orioles responded with 15 hits.

“One of our better offensive games in a long time, just the quality of the at-bats, how hard we hit the baseball, using the whole field,” Hyde said. “We just did a lot of really good things offensively up and down the order.”

José Ramírez and rookie Angel Martínez hit two-run homers for the Guardians, who still have the majors’ best record at 67-43.

Ramírez's homer in the eighth was his 29th and Cleveland's 125th this season, surpassing the club's total in 2023.

The Orioles were leading 3-2 and had runners at first and third in the eighth when Rutschman ripped a liner to right that fooled rookie Jhonkensy Noel. When Noel slipped and fell, the ball rolled to the wall, allowing both runners to score and Rutschman scrambled into third with a headfirst slide.

“My first reaction was that I thought the ball was going to come in and obviously when I reacted what happened, happened," Noel said. "You never want that to happen, but my mindset is to get every ball I can and unfortunately this one didn’t work out.”

Pinch-hitter Ryan O'Hearn followed with an RBI single to make it 6-2 and rookie Jackson Holliday's run-scoring hit capped the Orioles' outburst.

Holliday went 2 for 4, his second straight multi-hit game and is batting .357 with one homer, five RBIs and four runs since being recalled on July 31.

“Incredible," Eflin said about his young teammate. "He had a two-out, two-strike hit today, so it’s been really fun to watch, especially for a 20-year-old, it’s just crazy.”

Elfin was followed by Cionel Pérez and Seranthony Domínguez, who got it to thr ninth before Yennier Cano worked the ninth for his fifth save.

Rookie Joey Cantillo (0-1) started for Cleveland in place of Tanner Bibee, who had his outing pushed back a few days due to tightness in his right shoulder. Bibee leads the Guardians in innings and strikeouts.

WELCOME HOME

CC Sabathia made Cleveland's Hall of Fame. Cooperstown could be next.

Sabathia, who won 251 career games before retiring in 2019, was inducted by the Guardians in a pregame ceremony. He was joined on the field by several former teammates, including Hall of Famer Jim Thome.

While the 2007 AL Cy Young winner played 11 seasons with the Yankees, Sabathia has a soft spot for his first baseball home.

"This place is always special to me because I was born and raised in California, but I grew up in Cleveland,” Sabathia said.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Guardians: Manager Stephen Vogt said he’s “not overly concerned” about Bibee, who dealt with shoulder discomfort earlier this season. ... RHP Alex Cobb, acquired this week in a trade from San Francisco, struck out five in 4 2/3 innings for Triple-A Columbus in possibly his last start before joining Cleveland's rotation. He hasn't pitched in the majors this season after undergoing hip surgery.

UP NEXT

Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (1.3, 2.72 ERA) starts the series finale against Orioles RHP Corbin Burnes (11-4, 2.47), who is 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA in three career starts against the Guardians.