Josh Bell's blast highlights Guardians' sweep-clinching win over the A's

CLEVELAND — It's been a disappointing debut thus far for free-agent acquisition Josh Bell, who signed a two-year contract with the Guardians this offseason worth $33 million. Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field, the big slugger vented some of his frustration on a baseball while earning a little of that money in the process. Bell's mammoth home run tied the game in the fifth inning and provided a spark for Cleveland, which went on to beat Oakland 6-1 and complete its first sweep of the year. The Guardians tied a season high with their fourth straight win to remain a game behind first-place Minnesota in the Central Division standings. With Cleveland managing only a hit and trailing 1-0, Bell launched the first pitch he saw from A's starter J.P. Sears an estimated 430 feet to the Home Run Porch in left field. The ball nearly cleared the walkway next to the bleachers, bouncing off the letter H in a Miller Lite sign that reads "BREWED IN OHIO," on the facing. "I stopped following it to be honest with you. I knew it was gone off the bat," said Myles Straw, who followed with an RBI triple to put the Guardians in front for good. "I was hoping it would stay fair and once I kinda saw it had the right (trajectory) … I saw it on the replay hit like the whatever it is out there, the concourse maybe, or the walkway. So that was pretty cool, pretty good blast." "It feels good," said Bell, who entered the day batting just .233 with six homers in 66 games. "I was praying that it stayed fair, with the wind blowing side to side. It was kind of side-spun, so happy that it wrapped around the pole and it got us on the board." Straw, who like Bell has struggled offensively after a hot start, added a single in the eighth inning for his just his third multihit game since June 4. "When he hits, we're different and it shows," manager Terry Francona said. "It's his speed and it turns the lineup over and it certainly helps." Cleveland got a scoreless, albeit brief, outing from left-hander Logan Allen, who cruised through the first three innings, allowing only two hits, but lost his command in the fourth. He walked the leadoff batter and two others in the inning but recovered to strike out Shea Langeliers with the bases loaded to end the threat. Still, Allen's pitch count climbed to 89 and he was replaced by Nick Sandlin to start the fifth. "He's going through a lot of things for the first time and he was at what, 90 (pitches), 89? That's a lot," Francona said of Allen, who struck out five in his 11th career start. "I think if you ask (pitching coach) Carl (Willis) and I know I certainly feel this way, that's a lot more intensity and on your and fatiguing, as opposed to maybe going seven (innings) when you're kind of in a rhythm. "He had to fight for everything he could get. Now the good part of it was he did and he didn't give any (runs) up. But it's just a lot of deep counts." The Guardians' offense started slowly against Sears, who retired the first 11 he faced before Jose Ramirez broke up his no-hit bid with a sharp two-out single through the hole at short and third in the fourth inning. Ramirez later walked with the bases loaded in Cleveland's four-run eighth that put the game away, accounting for the 711th RBI of his career and moving him past Carlos Santana for 14th on the franchise's all-time list. The single in the fourth gave Ramirez 1,237 hits with Cleveland, moving him past Bobby Avila and into a tie with Dale Mitchell for 15th. Cleveland ended its scoring drought in a big way on Bell's solo blast that gave him 500 RBIs for his career. Allen had a front row view of the milestone. "I think we were all leaning over the edge (of the dugout), trying to make sure it stayed fair," he said. "I'm looking now at it on the (television) screen and it hit off the Ohio sign. That's pretty incredible. I mean, he's got a ton of power, but it's good to see him get into one like that." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on Twitter.