Guards' lineup catches fire in surge to MLB's best record 

BALTIMORE -- José Ramírez continues to come up clutch with big hits in two-out scenarios for the Guardians, and his energy has infused the rest of the Cleveland lineup. As a result, Bo Naylor, Gabriel Arias & Co. showed no signs of cooling off in a 10-8 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards on Tuesday night -- the club's seventh straight victory as it moved to 51-26, the best record in MLB.

“The resilience of this team. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys, top to bottom,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “… I can’t say enough about the way our pitching staff has picked us up all year, and then tonight for our offense to put up a two spot on [Orioles reliever Yennier] Cano, that’s one of the best relievers in this league. Bo Naylor swinging the bat and Gabby Arias swinging the bat, José being José, just up and down the lineup. ... Everybody contributed tonight.”

In his first plate appearance, with two outs in the first inning, J-Ram sparked the Guardians’ offense with a 116.6 mph double into left field -- the hardest-hit ball of his career in the Statcast era (since 2015). His previous high was 114.3 mph. David Fry followed suit with an RBI double one pitch later to give the Guardians a 1-0 head start.

In the second inning, the bottom of the lineup showed how contagious early hits can be. Johnathan Rodriguez snapped his 0-for-14 skid with a leadoff single, beginning a rally that culminated in back-to-back doubles from Naylor and Arias, who drove in both Rodriguez and Naylor.

Ramírez’s hard-hit double was a preview of what was to come just three innings later. Once again in a similar two-out scenario, the All-Star hopeful launched his 237th homer as a Guardian, 24 hours after tying Manny Ramirez for the third-most homers in franchise history. With two on and a 1-0 count, his team-leading 21st dinger of 2024 landed just above the O’s bullpen, 410 feet into center field, capping the five-run fourth and giving the Guardians an 8-4 lead.

Naylor and Arias continued to be threats, each going 3-for-4. Naylor added his first career triple to score Tyler Freeman in the eighth inning. His night ended just a home run shy of a cycle, and he collected his eighth multi-hit game of the season. One batter later, Arias recorded his career-high third RBI with a single into right field to bring in Naylor and extend the lead to 10-7.

Arias, who had been activated from the family emergency list on Monday, had not played before this series since June 12.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about baseball,” the infielder said in Spanish. “This is something I love and something that I like to do. I was thinking a lot about ways in which I could help the team when I came back.”

Once the Guardians retook the lead in the fourth inning, the Orioles continued to rack up runs and hits alongside them -- a stark difference from the Guardians’ low-scoring 3-2 win on Monday night. Baltimore finished with 16 hits to Cleveland's 14 on Tuesday.

“I think we’ve really created that identity,” Naylor said. “Not just this year, but for many years -- that we’re never going to quit and to be able to get that back and forth going on with that other side. I think we just created a really good ballgame. We knew they were going to come with their best stuff and that they were ready.”

With even more noise surrounding the team with the best record in baseball, Vogt said the club’s only focus is on winning games, and at no point does Cleveland look at its record.

“We’re taking it one inning at a time, one pitch at a time. All the clichés you can think of, that's what we want to be. We want to be all the clichés because that’s what gets it done,” Vogt said. “Our goal is to win every series and now we have an opportunity to sweep tomorrow, and that’s all you can ask for.”