Angel Martinez’s two homers lead Guardians past Athletics in 12-6 slugfest

Five runs answered two, and five more broke it open

The Athletics came out with the sharper first punch. Zack Gelof’s single helped produce the opening run when Shea Langeliers scored on a fielding error by left fielder Angel Martinez, and Donovan Walton followed with a single that brought Lawrence Butler home for a 2-0 lead. For a moment, the game looked like it might belong to Oakland’s table-setting. It did not stay there long.

Cleveland erased the deficit in a single inning and never gave the lead back. Chase DeLauter’s three-run homer to center flipped the score, bringing home Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez, and Martinez followed with a two-run shot of his own to center after Jo Adell reached the bases. When Walton singled in Butler again in the third, the Athletics had trimmed it to 5-3. That lasted only until Cleveland’s next turn. David Fry doubled home DeLauter and Martinez, Austin Hedges doubled in Fry, Brayan Rocchio doubled in Hedges, and Kwan’s single scored Rocchio. The Guardians had another five-run burst and a 10-3 lead before the game had fully settled.

Martinez went from early mistake to central figure

Martinez ended up at the center of nearly every important Cleveland swing. The same player whose first-inning error helped Oakland build its early lead answered with the two-run homer that capped Cleveland’s first surge, added a solo homer in the fourth, and drove in Ramirez again with a single in the sixth. His final line — 4-for-5, three runs, four RBI, two homers — was the clearest individual stamp on the night. Cleveland’s offense had plenty of contributors, but Martinez kept reappearing whenever another run was there to claim.

He was hardly alone. DeLauter finished 2-for-5 with three RBI on the decisive first-inning homer. Kwan had two hits and an RBI from the top of the lineup, while Ramirez reached three times, scored twice and kept the inning-to-inning pressure on with two hits and a walk. Fry, Hedges and Rocchio all supplied run-scoring extra-base hits in that third-inning avalanche. Oakland had its own standout in Walton, who went 3-for-3 with four RBI and a two-run homer in the fifth, and the Athletics collected 12 hits overall. But Cleveland’s lineup kept producing answers, and in this game answers mattered more than isolated rallies.

A rough outing for Bibee, then a bullpen wall

The Guardians did not win this because Tanner Bibee silenced anyone. He gave up 12 hits and six runs in 4.2 innings, throwing 95 pitches and allowing Oakland to score in the first, third, fourth and fifth. The Athletics kept making contact, and Walton’s fifth-inning homer made sure Bibee’s line stayed uncomfortable even in a winning effort. On another night, that kind of start can drag a team under.

Instead, Cleveland’s bullpen turned the game from unsettled to finished. Matt Festa covered 1.1 hitless innings, Tim Herrin added a hitless seventh despite two walks, and Slade Cecconi closed with two clean, hitless innings and two strikeouts. The three relievers combined for 4.1 no-hit innings, which is the hidden reason a 12-6 game never became tighter late. Oakland’s pitching story tilted the other way. Jacob Lopez was tagged for 10 runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings, and the damage from Cleveland’s first and third innings was too large to erase. To the Athletics’ credit, Chris Roycroft, Geoff Hartlieb and Drew Rom combined to allow only two runs over the final 5.1 innings, but by then the shape of the night had already been drawn.

Our take: Cleveland’s damage was louder than Oakland’s traffic

Both offenses created chances, which is what makes the final margin instructive. The Athletics finished with 12 hits and three walks, while the Guardians piled up 15 hits and only one walk. The difference was not simply who got men aboard. It was what happened when they did. Cleveland produced seven extra-base hits — three home runs and four doubles — and scored 12 times while leaving nine runners on base. Oakland managed four extra-base hits, hit just one homer, and left 16 runners on base. That is the cleanest explanation for why a game that felt busy on both sides still leaned so strongly toward the home club.

For Oakland, the immediate area to clean up is early run prevention. Allowing 10 runs before Lopez exited forced the Athletics to play catch-up even on a night when Walton, Gelof, Langeliers and Alika Williams combined for nine hits. For Cleveland, this should not be filed away as a perfectly comfortable win. The Guardians won by six, but they also got just 4.2 innings from their starter and committed the error that helped start the game badly. The encouraging part is that they showed two useful traits at once: enough thump to punish mistakes, and enough relief pitching to keep a high-scoring game from spiraling back into doubt.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Gelof singled to left, Langeliers scored on error, Butler to second, Butler safe at third on fielding error by left fielder Martínez.

2. 1st Inning

   Walton singled to right, Butler scored, Gelof to third.

3. 1st Inning

   DeLauter homered to center (394 feet), Kwan scored and Ramírez scored.

4. 1st Inning

   Martínez homered to center (402 feet), Adell scored.

5. 3rd Inning

   Walton singled to left, Butler scored.

6. 3rd Inning

   Fry doubled to left, DeLauter scored and Martínez scored.

7. 3rd Inning

   Hedges doubled to left, Fry scored.

8. 3rd Inning

   Rocchio doubled to left, Hedges scored.

9. 3rd Inning

   Kwan singled to left, Rocchio scored.

10. 4th Inning

    Bolte singled to center, Williams scored.

11. 4th Inning

    Martínez homered to right (353 feet).

12. 5th Inning

    Walton homered to right center (387 feet), Gelof scored.

13. 6th Inning

    Martínez singled to center, Ramírez scored.