Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run home run and Adley Rutschman drove in three runs as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the MLB-leading Cleveland Guardians 9-5 on Sunday.
Henderson hit his 29th home run of the season in the fourth inning off Gavin Williams (1-4), giving the Orioles a 6-2 lead. Three batters before Henderson, rookie Jackson Holliday hit a solo home run, helping Baltimore split the four-game series.
“Give our guys credit for coming back for the split by winning the last two,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “They’re a tough team to play and this is a tough place to play. It was a good day for us offensively.”
Eloy Jiménez had three hits, and Colton Cowser extended his hitting streak to 17 games, matching the Orioles’ rookie record set by Trey Mancini in 2017. Baltimore was tied with the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East before the game.
The Orioles got 15 hits for the second game in a row after not reaching that number for four weeks. Henderson and Cowser each scored three runs.
“It’s just a matter of time until we all start clicking again,” Henderson said. “To be able to go on out there and tack on more runs and help the bullpen today, it was huge.”
Corbin Burnes (12-4) earned his third consecutive win and reached his 1,000th career strikeout. The 29-year-old right-hander pitched five innings and allowed a season-high five runs, four earned.
Josh Naylor hit a 420-foot, three-run home run and Steven Kwan had two singles and stole two bases for the Guardians, who have won five of their last seven games and are 67-44 for the season. They also have the best home record in baseball at 35-17.
“Baltimore is young, they’re fun, they’re exciting, they can pitch and play defense,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “That’s a really, really good team and I feel like we’re very evenly matched.”
Williams, who has lost all four of his starts at Progressive Field this year, allowed six runs in four innings. Connor Gillispie made his major league debut with three innings of one-run relief.
