Guardians remain tied in the AL Central after 7-3 loss to Rangers

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Texas Rangers' Alejandro Osuna, left reacts with third base coach Tony Beasley after hitting a three-run home run off Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Slade Cecconi during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter, foreground watches Cleveland Guardians' Kyle Manzardo round the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long) — Texas Rangers' Alejandro Osuna, left reacts with third base coach Tony Beasley after hitting a three-run home run off Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Slade Cecconi during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

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9:03 PM on Friday, September 26

By JOE REEDY

CLEVELAND (AP) — Alejandro Osuna hit a three-run homer in the first, rookie Jack Leiter matched a career high with 10 strikeouts and the Texas Rangers beat Cleveland 7-3 on Friday night.

The Guardians (86-74) remained tied with Detroit for the AL Central lead after the Boston Red Sox rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Tigers.

The Guardians have a magic number of one to clinch a postseason spot — win and/or Astros loss —after the Los Angeles Angels rallied for a 4-3 victory over Houston. The Astros are one game back for the final wild-card spot.

Cleveland also has a magic number of two — wins and/or Detroit losses — to wrap up the division.

If Cleveland and Detroit end up tied after Sunday’s games, the Guardians would win the AL Central due to an 8-5 advantage in the season series and host a Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.

Kyle Manzardo had a two-run homer to center in the first inning for the Guardians, who have dropped consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 2.

Leiter (10-10) continued his mastery of Cleveland after throwing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on Aug. 23. The 25-year old right-hander went seven innings for the third time in 34 career starts and allowed two runs on four hits while throwing 101 pitches.

Texas, which won for only the second time in its last 10 games, got its first two batters aboard before Rowdy Tellez hit a one-out, RBI double off the wall in left-center. With two outs, Osuna lined a hanging curveball off Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi (7-7) into the stands in right-center to make it 4-0.

The Guardians cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first on Manzardo's two-run drive to center field.

Key moment

The Rangers got some breathing room in the seventh on a two-run single by Cody Freeman with the bases loaded. Jake Burger added an RBI base hit to make it 7-2.

Key stat

Osuna has a hit in eight of Texas’ last nine games. He is batting .211 this season, but has a team-leading .304 average in September, going 17 of 56.

Up next

On Saturday, Texas will go with LHP Jacob Latz (2-0, 2.80 ERA) while Cleveland will counter with LHP Joey Cantillo (5-3, 3.21 ERA).

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