Guardians rally in second game to split doubleheader with Cubs

CLEVELAND — C.J. Kayfus homered and Gabriel Arias hit an RBI single in the eighth inning as the Guardians rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5 and split a doubleheader Sunday. Shut out 1-0 in the opener, the Guardians were six outs from being swept when Kayfus, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the sixth, homered off Jacob Webb (0-1) to tie at 4. Rookie Chase DeLauter followed with a single and Rhys Hoskins walked before Arias delivered his second run-scoring single of Game 2. Austin Hedges singles in a run to put Cleveland up 6-4. Scott Armstrong (1-0) allowed a tiebreaking homer but picked up the win. Cade Smith gave up an RBI single to Ian Happ in the ninth but stranded two for his third save. Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer and Matt Shaw and Happ added solo shots for Chicago in Game 2. Despite getting just two hits, the Cubs won the opener 1-0 as starter Edward Cabrera and three relievers combined on a one-hitter. Cleveland's lone hit in Game 1 came sixth when Kayfus led off the sixth with a drive to right that carried over outfielder Michael Conforto's head. The three combined hits between the teams are the fewest in a game at Progressive Field, which opened in 1994. In the second game, Happ put the Cubs up 4-3 with his fourth homer. He had gone 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts in the series before connecting off Armstrong. Blanked over the previous 14 innings, the Guardians finally strung some hits together in the sixth and tied it 3 on RBIs from Kayfus, DeLauter and Arias. Guardians star third baseman José Ramírez played in his 1,619th game, tying him with Terry Turner for the most in club history.