Guardians rookie Parker Messick carried a no-hit bid into the ninth inning before Leody Taveras led off with a single to begin a two-run rally, but Cleveland held on for a 4-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
Messick (3-0), making his 11th major league appearance, only permitted two baserunners in the first eight frames on walks to Taylor Ward in the first and Taveras in the sixth. The left-hander tied his career high with nine strikeouts and walked two.
Taveras hit a grounder to the left of second baseman Juan Brito, who dove but couldn’t keep the ball in the infield. Blaze Alexander followed with a single, chasing Messick after eight-plus innings.
Cade Smith gave up two hits and allowed two inherited runners to score, but was credited with his fourth save. Baltimore got on the board on Gunnar Henderson’s sacrifice fly, then added another run on Pete Alonzo’s double.
Cleveland owns the longest no-hitter drought in baseball, dating to May 15, 1981 when Len Barker of the then-Indians threw a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Stadium.
Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer and George Valera and Steven Kwan had RBI hits for the Guardians, who snapped a two-game skid in the opener of the four-game series.
Ramirez cleared the fence on the first pitch he saw from Shane Baz (0-2), scoring Chase DeLauter to put Cleveland up 2-0 in the first. The 388-foot shot to right field was his third home run in a seven-game span.
The Guardians made it 3-0 in the fifth when Brayan Rocchio doubled off the glove of second baseman Jeremiah Jackson, then came home on Kwan’s single. Rookie Valera plated Ramirez with an RBI single in the sixth.
Baz allowed four runs on six hits over a season-high six innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked three, remaining winless against Cleveland in three career starts. Cameron Foster followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Baltimore in his big league debut.
Messick had not pitched more than seven innings in a game in his four-year pro career. He was a second-round pick by the Guardians in 2022 and made his big league debut on Aug. 20, 2025.
The Guardians made two nice defensive plays behind Messick. Kwan jumped to grab Ward’s drive to the wall in center field in the third, while third baseman Ramirez stopped a sharp bouncer by Coby Mayo and threw him out in the fifth.
Ramirez also went into the netting to catch Samuel Basallo’s foul out in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
