CLEVELAND (Interstat) — David Fry and Austin Hedges each homered and drove in three runs, and Joey Cantillo pitched five effective innings as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Texas Rangers 9-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field.

The victory allowed Cleveland to salvage the finale of a three-game series after Texas had won the first two contests. The Guardians improved to 45-42 while Texas fell to 44-43.

Cantillo, who entered with a 6-3 record, allowed three hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts over five innings. The left-hander yielded a single to Elias Díaz in the second and then held Texas scoreless until the third, when the Rangers pushed across a run on a walk to Kyle Higashioka with the bases loaded. Cantillo escaped further damage by inducing a double play. He finished his outing by retiring the final four batters he faced.

Texas starter MacKenzie Gore took the loss, falling to 5-7. The lefty worked five innings, surrendering seven hits and five earned runs while striking out seven. Gore was sharp early, fanning two in the first and working around a Chase DeLauter double.

The game turned in the second inning. Brayan Rocchio singled and Gabriel Arias followed with a sharp line drive to right field, putting runners at the corners. After Kahlil Watson struck out, Hedges laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Rocchio and moved Arias to second. Daniel Schneemann walked to load the bases, and Fry then crushed a 3-2 pitch to right center for his fifth home run, clearing the bases and giving Cleveland a 5-0 lead.

Texas responded in the third. Justin Foscue and Josh Jung walked, and Ezequiel Duran singled to load the bases with one out. After Jake Burger struck out, Higashioka walked on a contested pitch that was upheld upon challenge, forcing in Foscue. Cam Cauley grounded into a double play to end the inning with Cleveland ahead 5-1.

The Rangers crept closer in the sixth. Against Cleveland reliever Colin Holderman, Higashioka walked and Josh Smith singled. After a forceout, Díaz grounded out to second base, scoring Higashioka. Nicky Lopez doubled to left, plating Alejandro Osuna and cutting the deficit to 5-3. Justin Foscue singled to put runners at the corners, but Jung struck out to end the threat.

Cleveland padded its lead in the seventh. Steven Kwan led off with a triple to left, his first of the season, and DeLauter singled to right to drive him in. After a wild pitch from Winston Santos moved DeLauter to second, Rhys Hoskins walked and DeLauter scored on a wild pitch, giving the Guardians a 7-3 advantage.

Texas got one back in the eighth when Díaz led off with his third home run of the year, a solo shot to left center off Tim Herrin. But Cleveland answered in the bottom half. Watson singled, and Hedges followed with a two-run homer to left center, his second of the year, extending the lead to 9-4.

Matt Festa closed the game with a scoreless ninth inning, allowing no hits and striking out one.

DeLauter finished with three hits and an RBI for Cleveland. Díaz had two hits and two RBIs for Texas, including his home run. The Rangers grounded into two double plays.

Winston Santos pitched two innings for Texas, allowing two hits and two earned runs with one strikeout. Hunter Gaddis worked one-third of an inning for Cleveland, giving up a hit but no runs. Tim Herrin recorded two outs with no hits.

The Guardians collected 11 hits, while the Rangers managed eight. Cleveland pitchers combined for 16 strikes, 45 balls and 16 balls in play. Texas pitchers combined for 15 strikes, 49 balls and 15 balls in play.

The game lasted 2 hours, 50 minutes before a crowd of 20,141.

Texas had entered the series on a six-game winning streak but dropped two of three to the Guardians, who had lost four of their previous six. The Rangers had outscored Cleveland 10-5 over the first two games of the set before the Guardians broke out offensively Wednesday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Texas 6, Cleveland 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Cleveland a 52.90 percent probability to win. Texas was a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5 runs. The total of 13 runs went under the over/under line of 8.5.