José Ramírez homers and drives in a
pair, Ben Lively goes 5 innings, and Guardians top Cardinals 5-1
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[September 21, 2024]
By JEFFREY JONES
ST. LOUIS (AP) — José Ramírez had three hits including his 36th home
run, drove in two and stole his 40th base as the Cleveland Guardians
beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Friday night to move closer to
the AL Central crown.
“When you watch him play, it’s OK, this guy wants to play, he wants
to be the best,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of Ramírez.
“Nothing he does will ever surprise me. He’s capable of great
things.”
Ramírez has more goals this season.
“It feels good, but obviously it’s going to feel a lot better if I’m
able to hit four more homers for the 40/40,” he said through an
interpreter.
Ben Lively (13-9) pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run
and three hits while striking out two and walking one. It was his
third consecutive start of allowing fewer than two runs.
“A couple times in the past, I’ve kind of chilled out a little bit,
thinking I’ve got it figured out a little bit, and bad things
happened,” Lively said. “You know what you’re doing, (so) keep
going. I’ve got plenty of time in the offseason to think about it.”
Erik Sabrowski gave up two hits in 2 1/3 innings for the first save
of his professional career.
Andrés Giménez and Lane Thomas added solo home runs for the
Guardians. Thomas, who began his career in St. Louis, hit his first
homer at Busch Stadium since Sept. 10, 2020.
The Guardians magic number for the division is now one. The
Cardinals’ loss and the Arizona Diamondbacks victory over the
Milwaukee Brewers officially eliminated St. Louis from postseason
contention for the second consecutive season.
Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (8-8) allowed four runs (three earned)
in six innings. He struck out two and walked three, allowing
multiple home runs for just the fifth time in 29 starts.
“Felt really good, (but) we’d like to have two pitches back,” Gibson
said.
“Especially against this lineup, I feel like (Gibson) actually
navigated it well,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “You’ve got a
ton of lefties in there, a lot of guys that make contact, they’re in
the air quite a bit, they don’t swing and miss. He gave us a shot.”
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St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson pauses on the mound
after giving up a solo home run to Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez
during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024,
in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Lars Nootbaar had two hits for the Cardinals, including a popup
double to shallow left field in the fourth inning to drive in St.
Louis’ run. Thomas Saggese had two hits in his first career start at
third base. His fourth inning throwing error allowed Bo Naylor to
advance to second base on a single and score on an RBI base hit by
Daniel Schneemann.
The Guardians, who locked up a playoff spot on Thursday at home,
will clinch the AL Central with one more win or one more loss by the
Kansas City Royals.
“(Clinching at home) was really fun, and we should enjoy it, but
that doesn’t mean the work stops,” Vogt said. “We have to continue
to push all the way through to the end.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: Marmol said the Cardinals are still evaluating how the
team will align its pitching rotation over its final eight games of
the regular season. RHP Sonny Gray described pitching through
undisclosed “lingering things” following his most recent start on
Sept. 18.
Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (right middle finger blister) is “building
up volume” before pitching in a game, Vogt said. OF Steven Kwan
(mid-back irritation) is eligible to come off the injured list on
Tuesday, and Vogt said the team is “targeting” that day for his
activation. “Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen between
now and then, but his progression is going well. He’s feeling better
every day,” Vogt said. RHP Carlos Carrasco cleared waivers and
accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus.
UP NEXT
Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.49) starts for St. Louis in the second game
of the series, opposed by Cleveland LHP Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.52).
Mikolas is trying to avoid becoming the first Cardinals pitcher
since Kip Wells in 2007 to pitch at least 150 innings with an ERA of
5.50 or higher.
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