Alejandro Osuna belted a three-run homer in a four-run first inning and Jack Leiter matched his career high with 10 strikeouts, sending the visiting Texas Rangers to a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night.
The Guardians (86-74) remained tied with the Detroit Tigers atop the American League Central Division and had their magic number for clinching a playoff berth remain two.
Cleveland owns the tiebreaker over the Tigers and also is one-half game ahead of the Houston Astros for the final wild-card spot.
Cody Freeman added a two-run single and Jake Burger singled in a run in the seventh off Jakob Junis to extend Texas’ advantage to 7-2. The Rangers (81-79) won for just the second time in 11 games and snapped a four-game skid on the road.
Leiter (10-10) worked a career-high tying seven innings, limiting the Guardians to two runs on four hits and a walk. The right-hander also struck out 10 over seven scoreless frames in beating Cleveland at home on Aug. 23.
Osuna’s second homer of the season traveled 406 feet to right-center field and put the Guardians in a 4-0 hole. It plated Freeman and Rowdy Tellez, who doubled in Joc Pederson two batters earlier against Slade Cecconi (7-7).
Kyle Manzardo had a two-run homer in the first and Gabriel Arias singled in Jose Ramirez in the ninth for Cleveland, which suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since Sept. 1-2. The Guardians are 18-7 in September.
Cecconi lost for the first time in eight starts since Aug. 16 against the Atlanta Braves, giving up four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. The right-hander is 2-8 in his career in home games.
Freeman went 3-for-5 and Pederson was 2-for-4. Both reached base three times in five plate appearances.
The Rangers have lost seven straight series in Cleveland, going 7-16 there since 2017.
