Ben Lively continues to be the unsung hero of the Cleveland Guardians’ season.

After ace Shane Bieber went down with a season-ending injury, nobody expected Lively to put up Bieber-like numbers. But here he is, with a 6-2 record and a 2.59 ERA.

Lively only needed to pitch five innings before the Guardians put up the 8-0 score that lasted until the end of the game.

Sam Hentges struck out two Marlins in the sixth, and Pedro Avila pitched three strong innings to complete the four-hit shutout and pick up his first save.

VINTAGE JOSE RAMIREZ

Watching Jose Ramirez hit a home run never gets old. He launched his 18th dinger of the year in the first inning and collected his 61st RBI, best in the majors.

Cleveland increased its lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Josh Naylor singled to score Steven Kwan.

The roof caved in on Miami (not literally) in the fourth inning when the Guardians scored six runs.  Kwan hit a two-run homer to right field to knock out Marlins starter Roddery Munoz.

Declan Cronin didn’t even make through the inning, as the Guardians collected:

·        Josh Naylor RBI single

·        David Fry run-scoring double

·        Kyle Manzardo sacrifice fly

·        Will Brennan RBI single

By the time Huascar Brazoban finally got the Marlins out of the inning, the Guardians had more than enough runs to finish the game.

Kansas City beat Seattle 8-4, so the Guardians’ maintained a three-game lead over the Royals in the American League Central Division.

The rubber match of the series is set for 1:40 p.m. on Sunday. Carlos Carrasco (2-5) will start for Cleveland against Miami’s Trevor Rogers (1-7). Both pitchers have ERAs over 5.60.