Will Benson homers twice as Reds sweep Guardians

Will Benson remained red-hot Sunday afternoon, when he homered twice to lead the host Cincinnati Reds to a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians and a sweep of the three-game interleague series.

The Reds have won four straight overall following a 2-9 stretch and are back to .500 on the season (24-24).

Carlos Santana had an RBI single in the seventh for the Guardians, who have dropped four in a row after opening May with eight wins in their first 12 games.

Benson snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run homer off Luis Ortiz (2-5) in the fourth before he added a solo shot off Hunter Gaddis in the sixth. The outfielder, who finished 3-for-4 Sunday, has homered in each of his last four games and is batting .526 (10-of-19) with four round-trippers and 10 RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.

The home run streak is the longest by a Reds player since TJ Friedl went deep in four straight games from Sept. 22-26, 2023.

Ninth-place hitter Connor Joe had two hits for the Reds.

Andrew Abbott (3-0) earned the win after allowing four hits and three walks while striking out five over five scoreless innings. Scott Barlow tossed a one-hit sixth and Luis Mey gave up a run while recording two outs in the seventh before Taylor Rogers, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagan combined to get the final seven outs.

Pagan earned his third save of the series and his 12th overall by wriggling out of a jam in the ninth, when he allowed two hits but struck out the potential go-ahead runs, Santana and Will Brennan.

Santana and Jose Ramirez had two hits apiece. Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 12 games, a span in which he is hitting .386 (17-of-44).

Ortiz took the hard-luck loss after giving up two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven over five innings.

--Field Level Media