Texas 7, Cleveland 3
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, September 26, 2025
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature:
70°
Umpires:
Home -
James Hoye, 1B -
John Libka, 2B -
D.J. Reyburn, 3B -
Sean Barber
Attendance:
36275
By Field Level Media
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 Tigers (86-74) atop the American League Central. Cleveland's magic number for clinching the division is down to two after Detroit lost 4-3 to the Boston Red Sox on Friday.
Cleveland owns the tiebreaker over Detroit, and both teams are one game ahead of Houston (85-75) for the final wild-card spot. The Astros, who fell 4-3 to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, would lose a tiebreaker to both the Guardians and the Tigers.
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 an Aug. 16 defeat to the Atlanta Braves, giving up four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. The right-hander is 2-8 at home in his career.
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 7-17 there since 2017.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Texas
|
12 |
1 |
16 |
.308 |
16 |
9 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Cleveland
|
5 |
1 |
9 |
.161 |
10 |
11 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
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