Cleveland led after one inning and never scored again. Texas did the rest quietly, then decisively. Jacob deGrom handled the middle innings, the Rangers found a run on an error in the seventh, and Josh Jung sealed it in the eighth. Final: 4-2, Texas.
deGrom was the story on the mound. He went seven innings, allowed 4 hits and 2 runs, walked nobody, and struck out nine on 96 pitches. His ERA: 3.48. The win moves him to 7-5 on the season. Jacob Metz closed it out with a perfect ninth — two strikeouts on 13 pitches — for his 18th save.
Cleveland struck first. In the bottom of the first, Kyle Manzardo homered to center (396 feet), scoring DeLauter, to put the Guardians up 2-0. Manzardo finished 1-for-3 with 2 RBI. Texas answered in the third when Joc Pederson homered to center (403 feet), scoring Lopez, to tie the game at 2-2. The game stayed there until the seventh, when Ezequiel Duran scored on a Cleveland error — Alejandro Osuna had flied out to left — to give Texas the lead for good. Jung added a solo home run to right center (376 feet) in the eighth to make it 4-2.
Tanner Bibee absorbed the loss for Cleveland, falling to 2-9. He pitched seven innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) with no walks and 2 strikeouts. He matched deGrom inning for inning but the error in the seventh proved the difference. His ERA: 3.69.
Texas has won five straight and sits at 43-42, first in the division. Cleveland drops to 44-41. Pederson, who drove in the tying runs with his 14th home run of the season, is 2 doubles away from 200 career doubles and 10 hits away from 1,000 career hits.