Daniel Schneemann hit a three-run home run, the Cleveland bullpen did a masterful job for a second straight game and the visiting Guardians made it two in a row over the San Francisco Giants with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday.
Logan Allen (5-4) pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, helping the Guardians keep veteran Justin Verlander winless on the season and Rafael Devers without a victory in a Giants uniform.
After Jose Ramirez’s run-scoring single in the first gave Cleveland a lead, Schneemann took Verlander deep for his eighth homer of the season and a 4-0 advantage in the fourth. The blast scored Carlos Santana, who had reached base on an error, and Lane Thomas, who had singled.
Allen took a two-hit shutout two outs into the fifth before Heliot Ramos followed a Patrick Bailey single with his 12th homer of the year, cutting the Giants’ deficit in half.
Allen turned the ball over to the Cleveland bullpen one out into the sixth, then watched Matt Festa, Cade Smith, Tim Herrin and Emmanuel Clase put up zeros the rest of the way. The Giants got only two hits against the quartet, the first coming when Willy Adames led off the eighth with a bloop single.
Herrin escaped that inning without creating a mess, retiring Devers and Wilmer Flores on flyballs and Casey Schmitt on a foul pop fly.
Clase served up a two-out single to Mike Yastrzemski in the ninth before striking out Bailey to secure his 16th save.
Allen permitted four hits and two walks while striking out four.
Devers, acquired Sunday in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, finished 0-for-3 with a walk. He had two hits in his San Francisco debut on Tuesday in Cleveland’s 3-2 win.
After having been reinstated from the injured list earlier in the day, Verlander (0-4) worked 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits. He walked one and struck out six.
Returning to the mound exactly one month after experiencing soreness in his right pectoral, Verlander remains winless in 11 starts for the Giants.
Kyle Manzardo doubled twice and Schneemann wound up with two hits for the Guardians, who out-hit the Giants 7-6. Cleveland will aim to sweep the three-game series on Thursday.
Bailey and Yastrzemski had two hits apiece for the Giants, who have lost four in a row.
