Trumbo, Davis batter Indians

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

In a duel between first-place teams, the most notable performances were turned in by Mark Trumbo, who hit his major league leading 30th home run, and Kevin Gausman, who pitched seven shutout innings.

Chris Davis was the difference-maker, however, in the Baltimore Orioles’ 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night.

Though Davis is known for his mammoth home runs, the hustle of the 230-pound slugger helped propel the Orioles past the AL Central leaders.

With runners at the corners and one out in the first inning, Davis hit a potential double-play grounder to second base. After the force at second, Davis beat the relay by a step to get an RBI and keep the inning alive.

“That’s a play that needs to be made,” Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis said. “Tip your hat to Chris Davis for running so hard down the line.”

Trumbo followed with a no-doubt shot to left off Josh Tomlin (10-3) for a 3-0 lead.

Davis has eight fewer homers than Trumbo and is batting just .228, but his 59th RBI was pivotal for the AL East-leading Orioles.

“Huge,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “Chris runs balls out.”

Pedro Alvarez also homered for the Orioles, who will seek to complete a three-game sweep Sunday. Cleveland has scored three runs in 18 innings thus far.

Trumbo has homered in each of the first two games. Playing in his first season with Baltimore, the 2016 All-Star already has eight more home runs than last year and is just four short of matching his career high, set in 2013 with the Angels.

“He’s been very valuable, a real consistent human being,” Showalter said.