Josh Bell nearly dotted the “i.” Bell homered off an “Ohio” sign beyond the left-field wall and Myles Straw hit an RBI triple, leading the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 win Thursday and three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics, who lost their eighth straight. Bell's 430-foot shot in the fifth inning off JP Sears (1-5) smacked the “H” on the beer sign affixed to a pedestrian walkway in Progressive Field and tied it 1-1.
The Tampa Bay Rays became the first team to 50 wins, and for the Oakland Athletics splitting a four-game series against baseball's best spelled success. Luke Raley hit a go-ahead solo homer with one out in the eighth, Manuel Margot connected earlier and the Rays beat the 19-win A's 4-3 on Thursday. Rays rookie top prospect Taj Bradley struck out the first six A’s batters in order and a career-high 11 in all, surrendering Seth Brown's tying two-run single in the fifth.
The defending National League champions have needed more than two months to start playing good baseball. Considering recent history, the Philadelphia Phillies are just fine with that trend. Bryson Stott hit his second homer in three games, Aaron Nola threw 6 2/3 effective innings and the Phillies moved over .500 for the first time in more than a month by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 on Thursday.
Andrew McCutchen’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning lifted Pittsburgh to a 5-4 victory over Oakland on Monday night, extending the Pirates’ win streak to six games and sending the Athletics to their record-tying 15th consecutive road loss. The 15 straight defeats away from home matches the Athletics’ record since they moved from Kansas City in 1968. Oakland set that mark in 1986.