Carlos Santana grand slam the big blow as Guardians finally find some offense, blast Reds to avoid season sweep

CLEVELAND — Carlos Santana sure knows how to celebrate an anniversary. The 39-year-old blasted a grand slam in the third inning to help revive a dormant Guardians offense in an 11-2 win over the Reds on Wednesday at Progressive Field. Santana's sixth career slam came on the 15th anniversary of his debut with Cleveland. "God gave me so much opportunity," said Santana, who had no idea about the anniversary until the media told him before the game. "I'm blessed. Long career, 15 years. I'm excited and happy, especially coming back to Cleveland. This organization gave me so much opportunity, and back and forth twice. I'm happy for that." The win snapped the Reds' five-game winning streak and denied manager Terry Francona a season sweep of his former team. The Reds swept the Guardians in three games at Cincinnati last month and won the first two games of this three-game series to earn the Ohio Cup for the first time since 2014. Santana played with Cleveland from 2010-17 and again from 2019-20 before coming back for his third stint this season. The slam was his eighth home run of the year and gave the Guardians a 5-0 lead. "Fifteen years in the big leagues, it's ridiculous," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "It's just a testament to obviously being very good, but taking care of yourself. It's hard to keep playing as you get older, and he does it at an elite level still. It's a testament to his hard work." The 11 runs were a season high for the Guardians, who scored one more run Wednesday than they did in their other five games against the Reds combined. They came into the game averaging just 2.6 runs through nine games in June and with losses in six of their previous eight games. But they put all that in the past and got the offense going early with a run in the first off Nick Lodolo. David Fry drew a one-out walk and Jose Ramirez drove him home with a double to left field. That extended Ramírez's career-long on-base streak to 37 games, the longest active streak in the majors. He also has a hit in 11 straight games and the double was the 379th of his career, moving him past Earl Averill and into third place on Cleveland's all-time list behind Nap Lajoie (424) and Tris Speaker (486). "That's who he is," said Kyle Manzardo, who went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. "Him doing what he's doing is the least surprising thing." The Guardians didn't stop after jumping out to that big lead, either. They had five straight hits to open a four-run sixth for a nine-run lead, including a three-run homer by Lane Thomas. Thomas' homer was his first this season after returning from the injured list this week. He had three hits, drove in three runs and scored twice. "It looked like we weren't pressing," Vogt said. "We waited for our pitch, and when we got it, we didn't miss it. That happens when you just go up there, look for a pitch and be yourself, not trying to do more." Logan Allen (4-4) went six innings and gave up solo homers to Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl. He struck out six. Lodolo (4-5) lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up six runs. Cincinnati's Christian Encarnacion-Strand was hit on the bill of his helmet by a 97 mph pitch from Emmanuel Clase in the ninth but stayed in the game. The Guardians are off today then open a nine-game West Coast road trip in Seattle on Friday. "This is a big win," Vogt said. "Every win is big but (especially) when you get on a cross-country flight. It's a good feeling to get on the plane." Up next Cleveland's Gavin Williams (5-3, 3.86) will face Luis Castillo (4-4, 3.31) at Seattle on Friday, while Cincinnati's Nick Martinez (4-6, 3.70 ERA) will pitch against Keider Montero (2-1, 4.30) at Detroit.