Martinez back in the number two spot; he's 3-30 over his past 7 games with one walk to enliven his offense and 329 OPS.

Two All Stars separated by a black hole at the top of our order.

Guardians snap losing streak against Astros, 4-2, with late-inning rally

Updated: Jun. 08, 2025, 5:23 p.m.|Published: Jun. 08, 2025, 4:02 p.m.

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians snapped a five-game losing streak against Houston with timely hitting and solid starting pitching, securing a 4-2 victory Sunday at Progressive Field to avoid a weekend sweep.

Cleveland rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh after Houston tied the game with two runs off starter Tanner Bibee in the top of the inning.

It was the Guardians’ first win against the Astros at home since June of 2023. Cleveland’s 85 runs scored in the sixth inning or later since May 1 are the second most in the American League during that stretch.

Bibee dominated early for the second consecutive start, but saw a potential win slip away on a single pitch.

After cruising through six innings, he did not get the call on a two-strike cutter to Cam Smith in the seventh with two runners in scoring position. Bibee’s pitch just missed the outside corner, and home plate umpire Paul Clemons did not pull the trigger on what would have been the second out of the inning.

Smith drove Bibee’s next offering into the left field gap for a game-tying two-run double.

Bibee had a brief conversation with Clemons while exiting the mound and said he felt “pure anger” in the moment after not getting the call.

“It was a ball,” Bibee later admitted. “I think that was just me wanting the call, obviously, but it was a ball.”

Bibee finished with six strikeouts, five hits and no walks allowed for his sixth quality start of the season.

The right-hander had held the Yankees hitless through 4 1/3 innings in his previous start and was equally impressive Sunday, needing just nine pitches to retire the Astros in the first inning.

Bibee said when he was faced with a similar situation to his start against the Yankees, he did not back off against Houston.

“I feel like I kept attacking them,” Bibee said. “I didn’t fall behind guys in that seventh inning. I mean, yeah, they’re hits were 60 miles an hour (off the bat), but that’s what I learned.”

Manager Stephen Vogt called Bibee’s outing “special.”

“He could have gone eight, nine innings today with the stuff he had, just making pitches when he needed to,” Vogt said. “This is second or third outing where he’s had everything in his arsenal, and the quick outs he was getting today — that was as efficient as we’ve seen him.”

The Guardians quickly regained momentum in the bottom of the seventh, sticking to their “Guardsball” approach that puts pressure on opposing defenses and bullpens.

Johnathan Rodríguez and Bo Naylor opened the inning with consecutive singles against Houston lefty Steven Okert.

Rodríguez, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Columbus, was replaced by pinch-runner Nolan Jones before Will Wilson laid down a sacrifice bunt that Okert fielded to the left of the mound and threw wildly past first baseman Christian Walker.

The error allowed Jones to score from second as Naylor moved to third. Steven Kwan followed with a sacrifice fly to center field that extended Cleveland’s lead.

Cleveland’s bullpen secured the victory as Cade Smith (2-2) struck out three batters over 1 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win, and Emmanuel Clase worked a scoreless ninth for his 14th save. Okert (1-2) took the loss for Houston.

Naylor provided the Guardians’ early offense with a 429-foot home run to right field in the second inning that scored Gabriel Arias, who had doubled. It was Naylor’s eighth homer of the season and sixth extra-base hit in his last 17 games. Naylor, who also singled in the fourth, finished with his second three-hit game of the season.

The Guardians’ backstop, who had one hit in his previous 34 plate appearances, said he anticipated seeing a breaking pitch from Astros rookie left-hander Brandon Walter in that situation.

“I definitely had my sights kind of more over the plate and figured in that spot that I might’ve gotten something to be able to do damage on,” Naylor said. “At that point it was just kind of letting it get deep (in the strike zone) and letting the swing flow.”

José Ramírez extended his career-high on-base streak to 34 games with a base hit in the third inning. Ramírez has recorded a hit in 29 of his last 30 games while batting .402 with a 1.141 OPS during that stretch.

Walter settled in after Naylor’s home run, retiring 13 of the final 16 batters he faced with five strikeouts. He had previously thrown five scoreless innings against Tampa Bay in his only other start for Houston.

Arias added his second double of the game in the eighth inning, a 111-mph drive that hit high off the center field wall against Houston reliever Kaleb Ort. It marked Arias’ fourth career game with at least two extra-base hits. He is batting .364 in 12 career games against Houston.

Vogt said Arias has had great at-bats all year.

“Gabby hits the ball hard,” Vogt said. “He’s going to go through stretches just like any hitter where maybe not getting some results or you have a couple bad games ... Gabby’s continuing to hit the ball hard, having great at-bats and playing excellent, excellent defense.”

Next

Former Guardians manager Terry Francona and the Cincinnati Reds arrive at Progressive Field on Monday to open a three-game series against the Guardians. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. The game will air on CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM, WARF 1350 AM (Spanish) and the Guardians Radio Network.


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