CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians finally found a way to beat the Reds.

After facing five straight left-handed starters from Cincinnati, the Guardians started a lefty of their own in Logan Allen on Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.

Allen struck out six and allowed two runs over six innings as the Guardians avoided a six-game sweep by their intrastate rivals with an 11-2 victory.

The offense, dormant through the first five games of this series that started in May, supplied Allen with plenty of help. Carlos Santana hit a grand slam and Lane Thomas added a three-run homer to lead Cleveland’s 13-hit attack.

The Guardians’ 11 runs were one more than they scored in the first five games of the series, all of which went in Cincinnati’s favor. It’s why the Reds left town with the Ohio Cup for the first time since 2014.

Will Benson, the man mainly responsible for the Reds winning the cup, received the Frank Robinson Most Outstanding Player award for the series. Benson, who did not play Wednesday, hit .474 (9 for 19) with four homers and eight RBI against Cleveland.

Benson, Cleveland’s No.1 draft pick in 2016, is not the first former Cleveland player to win the award for the Reds. Tyler Naquin, trying tok make a comeback as a pitcher with Cleveland, won it for the Reds in 2022.

Allen (3-4, 4.28) is 2-0 in two starts against the Reds. Cincinnati has scored two runs in 11 innings against him.

The Guardians entered Wednesday’s game averaging 2.6 runs per game in June. They wasted little time adding to that meager total.

Jose Ramirez doubled high off the left field wall to score David Fry for a 1-0 lead in the first. The double served as an update to Ramirez’s daily statistical resume.

It extended his onbase streak to a career-high 37 games. It also stretched his current hitting streak to 11 games, meaning he’s hit safely in 32 of his last 33 games.

Finally, the double moved him into sole possession of third place on the franchise list with 379.

But it was not the biggest or loudest hit of the game.

Santana’s slam captured that prize. Santana hit Nick Lodolo’s first pitch over the wall in right center field in the third for a 5-0 lead. Angel Martinez and Thomas, batting leadoff in place of Steven Kwan, opened the inning with singles. Fry struck out, Lodolo hit Ramirez with a pitch, sending him face first into the dirt at home plate, much to the chagrin of the crowd of 28,564.

When Ramirez dusted himself off and took first base, Santana hit a Lodolo changeup 397 feet into the seats for his eighth homer of the season and his sixth career grand slam.

Former Guardians manager Terry Francona started five straight lefties against his old team in this series. They all pitched effectively until the Guardians cornered Lodolo (4-5, 3.76). They reached him for six runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Kyle Manzardo, pinch-hitting for Fry, pushed Cleveland’s lead to 7-1 with a two-run, two-out double in the fourth. Manzardo, in a 4 for 33 skid, added a single in sixth when the Guardians scored four more runs thanks to an RBI single and Thomas’ three-run homer.

The homer was Thomas’ first of the season. He was playing in just his 20th game because of two trips to the injured list.

Martinez, another slumping Guardian, found himself Wednesday. The switch-hitting second baseman, in a 4 for 41 slump, singled and scored in each of his first three at-bats.

Next

The Guardians are off on Thursday before opening a nine-game West Coast trip with a three-game series against Seattle starting Friday night at T-Mobile Park.