José Ramírez homers and drives in a pair, Ben Lively goes 5 innings, and Guardians top Cardinals 5-1

ST. LOUIS — José Ramírez had three hits including his 36th home run, drove in two and stole his 40th base as the Cleveland Guardians beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Friday night to move closer to the AL Central crown.

Ben Lively (13-9) pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run and three hits while striking out two and walking one. It was his third consecutive start of allowing fewer than two runs.

Erik Sabrowski gave up two hits in 2 1/3 innings for the first save of his professional career.

Andrés Giménez and Lane Thomas added solo home runs for the Guardians. Thomas, who began his career in St. Louis, hit his first homer at Busch Stadium since Sept. 10, 2020.

The Guardians magic number for the division is now one.

Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (8-8) allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. He struck out two and walked three, allowing multiple home runs for just the fifth time in 29 starts.

Lars Nootbaar had two hits for the Cardinals, including a popup double to shallow left field in the fourth inning to drive in St. Louis' run. Thomas Saggese had two hits in his first career start at third base. His fourth inning throwing error allowed Bo Naylor to advance to second base on a single and score on an RBI base hit by Daniel Schneemann.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Manager Oli Marmol said the Cardinals are still evaluating how the team will align its pitching rotation over its final eight games of the regular season. RHP Sonny Gray described pitching through undisclosed “lingering things” following his most recent start on Sept. 18.

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (right middle finger blister) is “building up volume” before pitching in a game, manager Stephen Vogt said. OF Steven Kwan (mid-back irritation) is eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday, and Vogt said the team is “targeting” that day for his activation. “Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then, but his progression is going well. He’s feeling better every day,” Vogt said. RHP Carlos Carrasco cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus.

UP NEXT

Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.49) starts for St. Louis in the second game of the series, opposed by Cleveland LHP Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.52). Mikolas is trying to avoid becoming the first Cardinals pitcher since Kip Wells in 2007 to pitch at least 150 innings with an ERA of 5.50 or higher.