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CLEVELAND — When the Cleveland Guardians needed a response, after Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in Game 1 of their AL wild card series on Friday, it came as no surprise that all-star third baseman Jose Ramirez would be the guy to come through. He’s done it all year.

“He’s inevitable,” winning pitcher Shane Bieber said after the Guardians 2-1 win. “To do it right away, that was huge. I know for me personally, any pitcher, will tell you that.”

Ramirez hit an 88 mph changeup for a 2-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday not long after Jose Siri had given the Rays the lead in the top of the inning. Response accomplished.

“Yeah, that (responding) came through my mind, but we have a really good team, so I knew we were capable to come back,” Ramirez said through the team interpreter. “When it came off the bat I felt it was a homer, but with this weather you never know, and when I saw the center fielder trying to get to the wall, I was kind of concerned and I kind of sped up a little bit my pace (on the bases).”

Ramirez, batting right-handed, went deep to the opposite field off Rays starter Shane McClanahan as the home crowd erupted for the fan favorite. The best player on the Guardians hit 29 regular season home runs but his manager is most impressed when he’s not trying to hit them.

“I know he was hitting on 29 (in the regular season), and everybody was wanting it — and I understand why they want him to get 30,” Terry Francona said. “But he hit the double the other way. He had a bunch of hits that were staying through the ball. Balls will go out just because he’s a really good hitter.”

McClanahan left the pitch up after getting Ramirez out on change-ups his first two times at the plate.

“That was my plan, just look for that changeup,” he said. “He got me twice with the same pitch. Because it’s a really good pitch. It really resembles a fastball. So I was just sitting on that pitch and I was just trying not to do too much, just put it on the opposing side of the field, and I was able to get a good contact on that.”

The home run backed Bieber’s stellar outing as he lasted 7.2 innings, giving up just three hits while striking out eight. He wouldn’t commit to it being his best outing of the year but it would be hard to find one better, considering what’s at stake. The Guardians can win the best-of-three series with a victory on Saturday.

Bieber said the crowd gave him some needed adrenaline.

“It was just a lot of fun out there,” Bieber stated. “I wasn’t blind to the fact that there were a lot of people there pulling for us, pulling for us to come out of there with a victory. So we won’t take that for granted and that’s what we do it for.”

The game lasted just 2:17 on a chilly and cloudy day in Cleveland. It was decided by home runs — by two teams not known for hitting them.

“Two home runs, theirs and ours,” Francona said. “Or we might still be playing because both pitchers were (good), I mean, their guy was really good.”

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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