CLEVELAND — The biggest battle the Guardians and Baltimore Orioles face Friday night might not be each other — it could be Mother Nature.
Rain is a possibility all night, though the Guardians and Orioles might find a bit of luck if they can avoid it just enough to complete a game.
The Guardians (66-42) enter Friday's slate of games with the best record in baseball , just beating out the Philadelphia Phillies. The Orioles (65-45) enter in a tie with the Yankees for first place in the American League East.
Check back here for live score updates, analysis and highlights from the Guardians-Orioles game Friday night at Progressive Field.
Emmanuel Clase worked the ninth inning, allowing one hit and striking out Cowser to end it, and the Guardians beat the Orioles 8-4.
The Guardians will have the best record in baseball for at least one more day.
The Orioles took a big bite out of the Guardians' lead in the seventh inning.
With two runners already on base, rookie Jackson Holliday singled off of Scott Barlow to make it 8-2.
Pedro Avila entered the game, but Colton Cowser singled home another run, and Anthony Santander made it 8-4 via a sacrifice fly before Avila could escape the inning.
The Orioles only have three hits to this point tonight, but they've taken advantage of six walks.
The Guardians are, again, cruising past the Orioles.
Cleveland tacked on four runs in the sixth, and they now lead 8-1.
In the sixth, the Guardians loaded the bases against Orioles relief pitcher Gregory Soto, who struggled with his command. With nobody out, Austin Hedges lined a single past the infield to make it 5-1.
Steven Kwan then drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 6-1.
What followed next was a truly wild play, and an example of tremendous baserunning (after an initial mistake, at least).
With one out, Jose Ramirez hit a ball to center field. Cedric Mullins caught it for the second out and fired toward home plate. As he did, Kwan took off from first. The ball was cut off at the mound (allowing a run to score), and Kwan was caught in a pickle between first and second base.
Kwan raced toward second and then cut back, avoided a tag attempt, realized nobody had covered first base, and he was able to get back to the base safely.
Hedges, meanwhile, who started the play on second base, had rounded third while all of this was going on with Kwan, and he beat the throw home to make it 8-1.
Location, location, location. Sometimes hitters drive a ball 100 mph for an out, sometimes they get lucky with a mis-hit. Josh Naylor got lucky, and the Guardians benefited.
Naylor, with two on and two out in the fifth, blooped a ball into shallow left field. It fell, perfectly, between several Orioles defenders, allowing two runs to score.
The Guardians lead the Orioles 4-1 heading to the sixth inning.
It's entirely possible Carlos Carrasco could lose his rotation spot soon with Alex Cobb likely to join the club and Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen working to return from Triple-A. But tonight, "Cookie" gave one of his best starts of 2024 — albeit a short one — holding the Orioles' offense to one run in four-plus innings.
Carrasco walked four, but he allowed only one hit and struck out five.
The Guardians are still holding onto a 2-1 lead.
The Guardians quickly responded.
Dean Kremer lost the strike zone a bit, and with the bases loaded, Brayan Rocchio drew a walk that scored a run and tied it 1-1.
Austin Hedges then did his job, driving a ball to right field that was just deep enough to score David Fry via a sacrifice fly and a bang-bang play at the plate. The Guardians will go to the third inning lead Baltimore 2-1.
Baltimore entered tonight with the best record on the road, and they've jumped out in front.
With two runners on, Ryan Mountcastle grounded into a forceout that scored Ryan O'Hearn from third, giving the O's a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Below is some pregame information.
Jose Ramirez passes Albert Belle for second place on Guardians all-time home run ranks
Jose Ramirez made history this week by taking sole possession of second place on Cleveland's franchise home run list — and he passed some serious names in Cleveland baseball history along the way .
Grading the Guardians' trades at the 2024 deadline
Here's a breakdown and some grades on the Guardians' deadline moves .
Alex Cobb traded to Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians addressed their pitching depth issues by dealing for right-hander Alex Cobb from the San Francisco Giants .
Guardians clubhouse reacts to Lane Thomas trade
The Guardians were thrilled (and in a way, relieved) to see Lane Thomas added to the roster .
Jackson grad Dillon Dingler makes MLB debut against Guardians
Jackson High School graduate Dillon Dingler made his major league debut Monday, and he got his big moment in the seventh inning .
Guardians No. 1 overall draft pick Travis Bazzana meets Jose Ramirez, wants to grow the game in Australia
It all finally sank in for Travis Bazzana , the top overall draft pick in the draft, when he stepped onto the field at Progressive Field and met Jose Ramirez and others.
Cleveland Guardians 2025 schedule
Major League Baseball released the 2025 schedules .
2024 National Sports Card Convention comes to Cleveland
The National Sports Card Convention was in Cleveland recently. We broke down how we'd spend $100 , ranked the most mind-blowing items we could find and listed the top collectibles for under $50 .
The game will be televised on Bally Sports. It'll be broadcast on the radio by WTAM (1100-AM) and WMMS (100.7-FM).
The Guardians have a seven-game homestand against the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks. They'll then head to Minnesota to play four games (including a doubleheader) against the second-place Twins.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians vs. Baltimore Orioles recap; Guards cruise past O's again
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