Guardians 12, Athletics 6: Martínez Homers Twice After Five Days Off

Five days off, then two homers that settled a division night

September 19, 2026 - Cleveland - The clubhouse television had already done a job on Progressive Field before first pitch. The Chicago White Sox had just beaten Detroit, and the American League Central lead was a half-game. Angel Martínez had not played in five days because of right side and flank inflammation. Then he hit two homers from both sides of the plate, finished a triple shy of the cycle, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Athletics 12-6.

Cloudy. 71 degrees. Wind 11 mph right to left. First pitch 6:10 p.m. Attendance 31,615. The game lasted 2 hours, 49 minutes. Cleveland had 15 hits. Oakland had 12 and still spent the night chasing.

"It's just fun baseball, right?" Chase DeLauter said, per the MLB recap. "This is what you play all year for."

Lopez faced five hitters. The first inning was already 5-2.

Oakland scored first. Shea Langeliers reached. Lawrence Butler reached. Zack Gelof singled Langeliers home, and Martínez missed the ball in left. Butler scored on Donovan Walton's single to right. 2-0. That lead lasted four Cleveland batters.

Steven Kwan singled at 100.6 mph, the MLB recap said. José Ramírez singled at 103.2. DeLauter hit his 15th, a 394-foot fly to center, Kwan and Ramírez scoring. 3-2. Jo Adell singled at 106.1. Martínez hit his 16th, a 402-foot fly to center, Adell scoring. 5-2. Jacob Lopez had not recorded an out that stuck.

"That's what it's all about, you know, we come out and give up a couple early, but we can watch the last couple days and see we don't feel like we're out of any game," DeLauter said, per the MLB recap. "So it was nice to come out there and put up runs, and we kept the bats going."

The third was the same idea with more doubles. Walton singled Butler home to make it 5-3. Then David Fry doubled DeLauter and Martínez in. Austin Hedges doubled Fry in. Brayan Rocchio doubled Hedges in. Kwan singled Rocchio in. 10-3. Four doubles in one half-inning, and Lopez was already looking at a line that would not recover.

Bibee leaked six. The lineup covered him anyway.

Tanner Bibee threw 4 2/3 innings. Twelve hits. Six runs. Zero walks. Two strikeouts. Ninety-five pitches. Henry Bolte singled Alika Williams home in the fourth. Walton hit his eighth in the fifth, a fly to right-center, Gelof scoring with him. 11-6 after Martínez had already answered in the fourth with his 17th, a solo shot to right from the left side.

That is how a 12-hit Oakland night still ends 12-6. Walton went 3-for-3 with the homer, four RBI, and a stolen base. Gelof had two hits and an RBI. Langeliers and Williams each had two hits. None of it mattered once Cleveland put up five in the first and five in the third.

Slade Cecconi threw two scoreless innings after Bibee and got the win. Matt Festa and Tim Herrin finished it. Lopez (6-5) lasted 2 2/3. Ten hits. Ten earned runs. Zero walks. One strikeout. Two homers. Sixty-three pitches. Chris Roycroft and Drew Rom kept the last four innings from getting worse. The first three had already decided the night.

Martínez finished 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, three runs, and four RBI. The MLB recap said it was 11 total bases, the most by a Guardians player this season. DeLauter went 2-for-5 with the three-run shot. Kwan, Ramírez, and Adell each had two hits. Cleveland has now scored 10 or more runs three times this season, the MLB recap said.

"It's a ramp up over the course of the season," manager Stephen Vogt said, per that recap. "That's understanding young guys are gonna take some time to understand how it works out and flows, but I just feel like the offense is clicking at the right time."

A one-game lead, and a night that did not need tension

Cleveland is 80-75. Chicago is 79-76. The MLB recap said the Guardians have to beat the White Sox outright because of the tiebreaker, and that a Central title still carries a first-round bye. Saturday did not ask them to survive a one-run ninth. It asked them to score early after watching Chicago win, and they did.

Oakland is 61-94. Walton's three-hit card is the piece that will travel. The rest of the night was a staff that handed Cleveland a five-run first and never got the inning back.

Martínez, per the MLB recap: "It's easy when you're not playing to get your mind away. So for me, watching what they were doing, seeing the reports and getting ready and focused before the game was important. We've got to win, so any way I can help the team win, I've got to focus."

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Cleveland at 21 team fantasy points, first on a 15-game Saturday. Martínez had 18 hitting FP. DeLauter had 9. Walton had 13. Oakland finished at minus-1.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*