Joey Cantillo delivered another strong performance on the mound as the Cleveland Guardians cruised to a 6-1 home win over the Tampa Bay Rays last night.

After flirting with a perfect game in his last start, Cantillo (2-3) followed up by pitching five shutout innings. He gave up three hits and a walk while striking out six.

Cade Smith struck out three Rays in the sixth. Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, and Nick Sandlin finished on the mound, as Cleveland didn’t need to use closer Emmanuel Clase.

GET THE BATS GOING

Cleveland’s offense started slowly again after sputtering for the last two nights. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen pitched two shutout innings, but he came out because it was a bullpen game.

The Guardians couldn’t solve Tyler Alexander either, until they finally broke through in the fifth inning. Bryan Rocchio doubled to right field to score Andres Gimenez.

Jhonkensy Noel scored too, but the umpire called him out. Replays clearly showed that Noel was safe, but the replay officials in New York also blew the call.

Undaunted, the Guardians scored three more runs in the sixth. Josh Naylor singled to score Angel Martinez and Lane Thomas, increasing his RBI total to 103.

David Fry’s sacrifice fly scored Jose Ramirez to increase Cleveland’s lead to 4-0.

Tampa Bay scored its only run in the eighth on a double by Junior Caminero.

The Guardians started the post-game fireworks early on back-to-back homers by Thomas and Ramirez in the eighth.

Cleveland will try to earn a split in the four-game series this afternoon at 1:40. Ben Lively (11-9) will start for the Guardians against Tampa Bay’s Taj Bradley (6-10).