CLEVELAND – The Guardians were knocking on the door all night. 

The home team in red had every opportunity to break the door down in their eventual 10-5 victory over the Orioles. Inning after inning, Cleveland just couldn't deliver with runners in scoring position. That was, at least, until a breakout seventh inning. 

Things did start out well for the visitors, though. 

Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson thought that their 1-2-3 placement in the lineup referred to how many singles they should count to start the game. Holliday made one, Westburg made two, and Henderson made three. 

Henderson made both three and one, actually. Three singles, one run, 1-0 Baltimore. 

Two batters later, Ramón Laureano delivered a two-RBI single, and the Orioles were seemingly in business with a 3-0 lead after the game’s first three outs. 

"Seemingly" is the important word there. 

The Guardians manufactured three runs in just three batters, too, but did so a bit differently. Steven Kwan, Angel Martínez and José Ramírez went walk, single, three-run homer to tie the game. 

Not banner first innings for starters Tanner Bibee and Tomoyuki Sugano. 

“Just laboring," Tony Mansolino said postgame of his starter. "He looked a little kind of unsure of himself in the first inning. Didn’t have the confidence. It seemed like as the game went on, he had more confidence on the mound, and more aggressiveness in the zone."

The night for Sugano almost took a turn to the point of no return in the second. The right-hander faced a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam, staring down the barrel of an out-of-hand contest. But Sugano forced two flyouts, including one by Ramírez, and a groundout to end the frame. 

"Overall, just didn’t have good command today, and hitters were hitting it really well," Sugano said after the game. "You know, after the first inning, I felt like I had it going on, but just, overall, didn’t have good enough command."

In the third, Bibee was a strike away from avoiding any damage. But in a 2-2 count and Laureano at the dish, the outfielder sent a four-seam fastball 425 feet into the left field seats. Ryan O’Hearn had reached on an error and scored, too, giving the Orioles a 5-3 advantage. 

"He’s been doing it all year," Mansolino said of Laureano. "He did it last year in Atlanta when he left this place and went to Atlanta and played really well. Fortunately, he was brought in to play for the Orioles this year, and he’s been a catalyst for us all year. He’s just been so good. He plays with a lot of passion, a lot of energy. That’s been him all year.”

Sugano, despite avoiding much more damage in the second, just couldn’t find much of a rhythm. Entering tonight’s game, the right-hander had an ERA of 7.00 in the first innings of games and 6.00 in the second. That number dropped to 2.55 in the fourth, though, providing some optimism that a rough start might not last. 

Tonight, though, the struggles carried over. In the fourth, Carlos Santana drove in a run to cut the O’s lead to one, and Sugano’s night was done. The righty threw a whopping 90 pitches in 3 ⅔ innings, and only 50 of them went for strikes. All in all, he allowed four earned runs on six hits, walking four and striking out four. 

Still, he left the game with a lead. 

That advantage was short-lived. 

In the fifth, Corbin Martin, entering the game in relief, surrendered a solo shot to catcher Bo Naylor. The lefty’s 10th of the year knotted the game at five. 

That tie was probably a fortunate one for the O’s, though. Through five innings, Baltimore had left just one runner on base, while Cleveland had left 10, going just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. 

Those fortunes ran out quickly. 

With Colin Selby on the mound, lefty slugger Kyle Manzardo pulled the first pitch of the home sixth into the right-field seats. His solo shot was the third Guardians home run of the game, and it gave Cleveland their first advantage of the night. 

Even then, the Guards couldn’t push more runs across. As the sixth inning concluded, their numbers with runners in scoring position worsened to 2-for-14, and it kept the Orioles in the game. 

In the seventh, the Guardians had the chance to break things open yet again. Bases loaded, nobody out, and David Fry at the dish. 

The former playoff hero grounded to short, the throw was made home, and nobody scored. Santana followed with a strikeout. Grant Wolfram was nearly out of it. 

But with two down, the lefty walked Nolan Jones and Daniel Schneemann, and allowed a two-RBI single off the bat of Brayan Rocchio. The Guardians had finally come through with ducks on the pond, and after the dust settled, Cleveland led 10-5.

Things wrapped up without much excitement left to report on the Orioles side. Baltimore's bats, which started the game on fire, were left pretty silent after the first, save for that Laureano two-run homer in the third. Bibee, despite surrendering five runs in three innings, was able to complete seven frames. 

The Guardians gave the O's every opportunity to steal the game, but Baltimore didn't take advantage. 

Ninety-nine games into the season, the Orioles sit at 44-55, 11 games under .500 and 7-8 in the month of July. They have a long way to go to mirror their 16-11 performance in June and introduce some chaos to the deadline. Each passing loss appears to be making that deadline plan more clear. 

Sugano certainly wouldn't be excited to be among a group dealt, though. 

"Not at all," the righty said. "I really want to stay with this team and win with this team. I had that mentality going into this game today as well. So, moving forward, same thing. I want to continue to play for this team as long as I can."

Laureano echoed a similar sentiment. 

"I'm just trying to just see the ball and hit the ball and play hard for this team," he said. 

Baltimore is back tomorrow with Brandon Young on the mound.