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Manzardo lifts Guardians past Reds

By JEFF WALLNER 2 min read
Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan hits a single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Tanner Pearson)

CINCINNATI -- Kyle Manzardo homered and drove in two runs, Joey Cantillo pitched four scoreless innings and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 Wednesday night to claim the season series from their in-state rivals.

The Guardians, who took two of the three games from the Reds at Progressive Field in May, earned this year's "Ohio Cup," which is awarded to the winner of the season's series.

Cantillo allowed four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. He leads the majors with a .189 opponents' average with runners in scoring position and worked out of jams in the first, second, and fourth innings on Wednesday.

The Guardians, who had been shut out in three of the previous four games, loaded the bases with one out in the third, but failed to score. They loaded the bases again with no outs in the fifth and scored four runs despite having only one hit.

Travis Bazzana singled and drove in the first run off Reds starter Brady Singer, who issued a pair of bases-loaded walks to force in two more runs. Caleb Ferguson replaced Singer and allowed Patrick Bailey's sacrifice fly to make the score 4-0.

Singer (5-10) allowed four runs -- all unearned -- and six hits. He walked four and struck out three. The Reds committed two errors on Wednesday, including a fielding error by Elly De La Cruz which began the four-run fifth.

Erik Sabrowski (4-2) earned the victory for Cleveland.

Noelvi Marte drove home the Reds' only run with a single off Franco Aleman in the sixth.

Manzardo's home run, his 13th of the season and second in as many games, came off Chase Petty leading off the seventh, making the score 5-1. It was his fourth homer against the Reds this season.

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