Mullins, Henderson and O’Hearn HRs help Orioles end five-match skid with 4-2 win over Guardians

BALTIMORE – Cedric Mullins hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated Cleveland 4-2 Wednesday night to end a five-game skid and snap the Guardians’ seven-game winning streak .

Gunnar Henderson hit his 26th home run and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep for the Orioles, who were winless since beating the Yankees 17-5 on June 20. It was their longest losing streak since May 2022.

Mullins connected on Xzavion Curry (0-2) to give Baltimore the lead for the first time. The towering drive flew inside the foul pole and landed on Eutaw Street, past the right field scoreboard.

After struggling to get his batting average above .200 for much of the season, Mullins is hitting .378 as of June 12 and is at .214 this season.

“It’s nice to see that Ced really contributes. He has gotten a lot better in the last few weeks,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.

O’Hearn made it 4-2 with a solo shot to Curry in the eighth.

Grayson Rodriguez (9-3) gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struckout the last four batters he faced.

“That was a great start,” Hyde said. “Just a couple of solo home runs there. Furthermore, there is not much traffic. Great job, seven innings for us.”

Jhonkensy Noel became the fourth Cleveland player homer in his first Major League at bat, who connected in the second to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead. Recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier in the day, the 22-year-old rookie hit a fastball over the outfield wall after losing his bat on the previous pitch, sending it flying toward third base.

“It makes me so happy to make their Major League debut,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “Then he throws the bat 180 feet and the next throw hits it 450 feet.”

The last Cleveland player to go deep in his first at-bat in the major leagues was Kevin Kouzmanoff in 2006.

However, Noel went 1 for 4 and struck out to end the game.

a homer by Gabriel Arias put the Guardians ahead 2-1 in the fifth, but Henderson answered in the second half.

Guardians starter Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs and six hits in five innings. The right-hander was coming off a win against Toronto after going 0-4 in five starts since May 5.

“He held them,” Vogt said. “We were in that game the whole game and Cookie played a big role in that. He made some great throws when he needed to.”

Craig Kimbrel struck out the ninth for his 17th save in 21 tries.

Despite the loss, Cleveland won two of three games against the reigning AL East champions.

“It would have been nice to come away with three, but anytime we can win a series, especially on the road, we’re good at it,” Vogt said.

Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges threw out Orioles twice when he tried to steal, the second time immediately before Henderson’s solo shot. Baltimore came within 59 for 70 on stolen base attempts.

Guardians: INF Josh Naylor was held out of the starting lineup for the second straight game. “He just got beat up,” Vogt said. “It’s just another night off to let the little things heal.”

Orioles: RHP Dean Kremer (right triceps strain) will make another rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday evening. He last pitched for Baltimore on May 20.

Guardians: Ben Lively (7-3, 3.03 ERA) will get the start Thursday night when Cleveland opens a four-game series at AL Central rival Kansas City.

Orioles: Corbin Burnes (8-3, 2.35 ERA) will take on the Texas Rangers on Thursday night at Camden Yards. It’s a rematch of last year’s AL Division Series, which Texas won en route to winning the World Series.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb