David Fry can’t stop being a hero for the Cleveland Guardians, even when he’s not in the starting lineup.

Fry came off the bench to deliver a two-run homer as Cleveland beat the New York Mets 7-6 last night.

Last year, Fry’s greatest strength was his versatility, as he could play all over the diamond. Now, he’s hitting so well that he’s a solid No. 5 hitter (.338) who gives manager Stephen Vogt multiple options when filling out the lineup card.

Cleveland won its fifth game in a row to stay 1.5 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals, who are also on a five-game winning streak.

GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD

The Guardians jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on run-scoring doubles from Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman, and Jose Ramirez.

The Mets scored twice in the fifth, but Cleveland got both runs back in the bottom of the inning. Ramirez walloped his 12th home run of the year with two outs to give the Guardians a 5-2 advantage. Ramirez leads the American League with 44 RBI and now has 600 extra-base hits in his career.

New York scored twice in the sixth, but Fry stepped to the plate and launched his fifth home run of the year off Mets lefty Jake Diekman. Cleveland took a 7-4 lead.

That advantage was important because the Mets scored twice more in eighth before Emmanuel Clase slammed the door for his 15th save.

NEW FACES

Johnathan Rodriguez made his debut with the Guardians, as the team gave up on Ramon Laureano. Rodriguez played right field and went 0-for-4.

Xzavion Curry also came up from Columbus to make his first start for Cleveland this year. He replaced Carlos Carrasco, who went down with a neck injury. Curry gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings.

The Guardians will go for their second sweep in a row when they take on the Mets at 1:10 this afternoon. Triston McKenzie (2-3) will start for Cleveland against New York’s Jose Quintana.

Oh, one more thing: Mustard has suddenly become unstoppable in the Hot Dog Derby. After Ketchup and Onion split the victories in the first six races, Mustard has stormed to 16 wins in a row.

Not bad for a condiment that performed so poorly last year that he was demoted to the Lake County Captains.