DETROIT (AP) — José Ramírez homered twice to give him 26 this season and had an RBI double, providing plenty of offense for Tanner Bibee and the Cleveland Guardians in an 8-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.
Ramirez’s second homer was No. 240 of his career, tying him with Albert Belle for second in Cleveland history behind Jim Thome’s 337. He has 25 multihomer games, one shy of the totals of Thome and Belle.
Bibee (9-4) kept the Tigers scoreless until they opened the seventh inning with three straight hits, including Dillon Dingler’s RBI double in his major league debut. That chased Bibee, who gave up two runs on seven hits in six-plus innings.
All-Star Josh Naylor, who was rested the previous three games, hit a three-run homer off in the three-run sixth that put Cleveland ahead 7-0
The AL Central-leading Guardians made a move on the eve of trade deadline, acquiring outfielder Lane Thomas from Washington.
Cleveland, whose winning percentage trailed only Philadelphia’s, is in the market for starting pitching.
Detroit, meanwhile, is expected to deal at least one player to bolster a contender’s rotation.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty was scheduled to start the series opener against the Guardians but was scratched. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said it would wrong for Flaherty and the Tigers to pitch him a day before the deadline.
The Tigers will also have to decide if it makes sense to trade All-Star Tarik Skubal, who is 12-3 with a 2.35 ERA. Dealing the 28-year-old Flaherty, who has a $14 million, one-year contract and can become a free agent, seems to make sense for a fourth-place team still trying to rebuild.
Flaherty is 7-5 in 18 starts with a 2.95 ERA. Since making his major league debut with St. Louis in 2017, he is 49-39 with a 3.64 ERA.
Detroit did make several moves before the game, including putting shortstop Javier Báez on the medical emergency list to attend to family matters.
Beau Brieske (1-2) got just two outs and gave up three runs and five hits in the first inning.
Detroit selected the contract of Bryan Sammons from Triple-A Toledo and the 29-year-old lefty gave up five runs and four hits over 7 1/3 innings in his major league debut.
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Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (0-3, 4.50) is expected to pitch Tuesday.
