CLEVELAND -- David Fry hit a three-run homer off MacKenzie Gore during a five-run second inning, helping the Guardians avoid a three-game series sweep with a 9-4 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Austin Hedges homered and drove in three runs, and Chase DeLauter went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Cleveland, which won for the sixth time in 15 contests since third baseman José Ramírez fractured his left hamate bone on June 13.
The Guardians pulled within one game of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central, while Texas fell into a tie with idle Seattle atop the AL West. The Rangers had won a season-high six straight games, all on the road.
Elias Díaz had a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Rangers, whose last sweep at Progressive Field occurred from June 2-5, 2011.
Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo (7-3) scattered three hits over five-plus innings, allowing two runs and issuing a career-high five walks on a balmy 90-degree day in Northeast Ohio.
Cleveland jumped in front 5-0 in the second, beginning with Hedges’ safety squeeze and Gabriel Arias racing home on a wild pitch. Fry followed with a 380-foot shot to right-center.
It was just the third home run allowed by Gore (5-7) in his last nine starts.
The Guardians tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh, making it 7-3 when DeLauter singled home a run, stole second base and scored on back-to-back wild pitches by Rangers pitcher Winston Santos.
Texas got on the board in the third when Cantillo walked Kyle Higashioka with the bases loaded, scoring Justin Foscue. The six-pitch plate appearance featured three Automated Ball-Strike System challenges, two of which upheld the call by home-plate umpire Chris Segal.