Jose Ramirez and Brayan Rocchio star for Guardians in series-clinching win over Orioles

CLEVELAND — The Guardians put on a show Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, with Jose Ramirez as the star and Brayan Rocchio in a supporting role. Ramirez went deep in consecutive innings for the 28th multi-homer game of his career and Rocchio had three hits and three RBIs as Cleveland powered past Baltimore 8-4 to clinch a four-game series. The homers, which came from the right side of the plate, gave Ramirez 138 in Cleveland, moving him past Earl Averill for the second-most at home in franchise history behind Jim Thome's 184."I do marvel at it," manager Stephen Vogt said. "When your name is circled thicker or darker than anybody else's in the lineup, especially when he's hitting right-handed, teams do not want him to beat them right-handed. "So, for him to get two homers in back-to-back at-bats like that … he hits a different gear, he hits a different mindset. It's super impressive." Ramirez, who at 33 is the 10th and oldest player in MLB history to hit five or more homers and steal 10 or more bases in his team's first 23 games, is closing in on 300 homers (291) and stolen bases (287) for his career. "I think I set my standards a little higher than those numbers," the seven-time All-Star said through an interpreter. "I know they're going to come up if we keep playing and doing the right things. For me, most importantly, it's trying to win. I know that when I'm doing those things, the team goes in a good way and I'm helping the team win." The No. 9 batter, Rocchio, got the Guardians' first hit and has reached base in 19 of his 22 games on the year. He's been especially effective in the clutch, batting .423 (11-for-26) with 13 RBIs with runners on, and .391 (9-for-23) with eight RBIs with two outs. "I'm trying not to do too much, just put the ball in play and put the team in the best position," Rocchio said. "That's what I do right now, work the counts, see a lot of pitches, get on base." "I feel it comes down to concentration and the focus that he puts in the game," Ramirez said of Rocchio. "Even though he's young, he's kind of the leader in the defense, and he has to bring that energy. As long as he keeps bringing that energy, it's going to lead the way for other players to play that way. I know how he prepared at the end of (last) season, so I know he's capable of doing these things and bringing that energy that we need as a team." Joey Cantillo began his fifth start with four scoreless innings, striking out six of the first 15 batters, but the left-hander ran into problems in the fifth, walking the leadoff hitter and allowing a three-run homer to Taylor Ward in Baltimore's four-run inning. "It was a command thing today, just not enough strikes," Vogt said. "I thought he battled his way through the first four and kinda got himself out of some jams, made pitches when he needed to, and then the command just got away from him in the fifth." "I think we obviously battled well there for the first three or four innings, and then obviously that fifth inning happens there and that's frustrating," Cantillo said. "But we'll learn from it. And the biggest thing is we got the win today." Ramirez's first homer to lead off the fourth put Cleveland in front 2-0. Then, after Baltimore crept within a run in the fifth, Ramirez hit another solo shot in the bottom of the inning to put his team back in front by two. Rocchio's two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded put the game away in the eighth. The Guardians' beleaguered bullpen was effective for the second straight day, holding the Orioles scoreless over the final four innings. Right-hander Peyton Pallette appeared for the first time since April 10 and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh with two strikeouts. "That was probably one of my favorite outings of the year with Peyton coming in," Vogt said. "He hadn't pitch for what, eight, nine days? He had to get six outs for us with where the bullpen was. With who we had available, we needed that from Peyton. "He was not big-eyed, locked it in and got six really good hitters out." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.