CLEVELAND (AP) — David Fry hit a three-run homer, José Ramírez had a two-run shot and the Cleveland Guardians hammered the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 on Thursday night in a matchup of two of the AL's division leaders.
Bo Naylor added a three-run blast as the Guardians outhomered the Orioles, who lead the majors with 172 homers.
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Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, right, hands the ball to manager Brandon Hyde, left, as catcher Adley Rutschman, center, looks away, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) greets catcher Bo Naylor, left, as Nick Sandlin, right, stands by at the end of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor heads to first base after hitting a single off Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Albert Suarez during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Lane Thomas heads to first base after a walk off Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Burch Smith during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) greets Lane Thomas, center, and Jhonkensy Noel, right, at the end of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles' Colton Cowser (17) heads for home plate on an RBI double by Gunnar Henderson during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, right, hands the ball to manager Brandon Hyde, left, as catcher Adley Rutschman, center, looks away, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, left, reacts after giving up a three-run home run to Cleveland Guardians' David Fry as Gurdians' Josh Naylor, back right, heads to home plate during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles' Anthony Santander, center, reacts after hitting a solo home run off Cleveland Guardians' Ben Lively as Guardians' Bo Naylor, left, and umpire John Bacon, right, stand by during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan, front left, scores on a sacrifice fly by Jose Ramirez as Baltimore Orioles' Adley Rutschman, right, stands by during the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Ben Lively delivers against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' David Fry watches his three-run home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) and Jose Ramirez, second from left, congratulate David Fry, front right, after Fry's three-run home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers as Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, back right, stands behind during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
“We played a really good game,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got to their starter and then added on with the bullpen and that’s a great recipe to win any game.”
Cleveland's 66-42 record is tops in baseball and the club's best mark through 108 games since the 1995 AL title team started 73-35.
Fry homered in the third off Trevor Rogers (2-10), who went 4 1/3 innings in his debut for the Orioles after being acquired in a trade Tuesday from Miami. The left-hander allowed five runs and six hits.
“It was definitely a whirlwind today, something I haven’t been through before," said Rogers, who only had a brief conversation with catcher Adley Rutschman before taking the mound. “But I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. I've still got to execute the game plan.”
Ramírez hit his 28th homer in the seventh, giving him homers in three straight games for the first time since 2021.
“You’ve got to watch every single at-bat he’s up there,” Vogt said. “You better be watching because he’s going to do something special.”
Naylor's eighth homer capped a five-run seventh when the Guardians blew it open.
Ben Lively (10-6) gave up two runs and four hits in six innings to become Cleveland's first 10-game winner. He's 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight home starts.
“Ben has taken this role, really the first time he’s been a stable source in any rotation and he’s not letting it go,” Vogt said.
It was the first of four straight games between the Orioles and Guardians, who could see each other again in the postseason. Baltimore began its longest trip this season, an 11-day, 10-game swing through Cleveland, Toronto and Tampa Bay.
Lane Thomas doubled twice in his home debut for the Guardians after coming over in a trade from Washington this week. He's reached base in 27 straight games.
Thomas played with the Nationals in Cleveland earlier this season and could sense something special about the Guardians.
“I just felt like they played the game hard and kind of how we thought we played,” he said. “I thought they had a really good bullpen. I just thought they’ve got a complete team, so it was fun to watch across the field. I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Anthony Santander hit his 32nd homer for Baltimore, which got just five hits.
Fry connected for his ninth homer — and first since May 31 — to give the Guardians a 5-1 lead.
Ramírez doubled with two outs in the third and Josh Naylor walked before Fry crushed a 3-2 pitch from Rogers 407 feet into the left-field bleachers.
“I wasn't sure I could still do it,” Fry joked about ending his homer drought. “It was nice to see it go over the fence, but we had a bunch of ’em today. It was really fun.”
BACKED UP
Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee will have his scheduled start Saturday pushed back at least a couple days due to shoulder tightness.
Bibee, who is 9-4 in his second season with Cleveland, allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings at Detroit on Monday. Vogt said Bibee's shoulder stiffened following the outing.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Guardians: Newly acquired RHP Alex Cobb will make a rehab start for Triple-A Columbus on Saturday. Cobb, who came over in a deadline trade from San Francisco, hasn't pitched in the majors this season following hip surgery last October. He was set to rejoin the Giants' rotation last week before developing a finger blister.
UP NEXT
Guardians RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-9, 5.68 ERA) was set to start Friday against Orioles RHP Dean Kremer (4-7, 4.20).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) greets catcher Bo Naylor, left, as Nick Sandlin, right, stands by at the end of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor heads to first base after hitting a single off Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Albert Suarez during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Lane Thomas heads to first base after a walk off Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Burch Smith during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) greets Lane Thomas, center, and Jhonkensy Noel, right, at the end of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles' Colton Cowser (17) heads for home plate on an RBI double by Gunnar Henderson during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, right, hands the ball to manager Brandon Hyde, left, as catcher Adley Rutschman, center, looks away, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, left, reacts after giving up a three-run home run to Cleveland Guardians' David Fry as Gurdians' Josh Naylor, back right, heads to home plate during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Baltimore Orioles' Anthony Santander, center, reacts after hitting a solo home run off Cleveland Guardians' Ben Lively as Guardians' Bo Naylor, left, and umpire John Bacon, right, stand by during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan, front left, scores on a sacrifice fly by Jose Ramirez as Baltimore Orioles' Adley Rutschman, right, stands by during the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Ben Lively delivers against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' David Fry watches his three-run home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Josh Naylor (22) and Jose Ramirez, second from left, congratulate David Fry, front right, after Fry's three-run home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers as Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, back right, stands behind during the third inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
ROME (AP) — Human rights groups voiced outrage Wednesday after Italy released a Libyan warlord on a technicality, after he was arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Hague-based court, for its part, issued a more diplomatic response but its anger appeared evident. In a stern statement late Wednesday, the ICC reminded Italy that it is obliged to “cooperate fully” with its prosecutions and said it was still awaiting information about what exactly Rome had done.
The reaction came after the Italian government on Tuesday released and sent back home Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, who heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force.
Al-Masri had been arrested Sunday in Turin, where he reportedly had attended the Juventus-Milan soccer match the night before. The ICC warrant, dated the day before, accused al-Masri of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya starting in 2015 that are punishable with life in prison.
The ICC said he was accused of murder, torture, rape and sexual violence. It said the warrant was transmitted to member states on Saturday, including Italy, and that the court had also provided real-time information that he had entered Europe.
The court said it had reminded Italy at the time to contact it “without delay” if it ran into any problems cooperating with the warrant.
But Rome’s court of appeals ordered al-Masri freed Tuesday, and he was sent back to Libya aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services, because of what the appeals court said was a procedural error in his arrest. The ruling said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time, since the justice ministry handles all relations with the ICC.
The ICC said it had not been given prior notice of the Rome court's decision, as required, and “is seeking, and is yet to obtain, verification from the authorities on the steps reportedly taken.”
Al-Masri returned to Tripoli late Tuesday, received at the Mitiga airport by supporters who celebrated his release, according to local media. Footage circulated online showed dozens of young men chanting and carrying what appeared to be al-Masri on their shoulders.
“This is a stunning blow to victims, survivors and international justice and a missed opportunity to break the cycle of impunity in Libya,” said Amnesty International’s Esther Major, deputy director of research for Europe.
Nordio appeared in the Senate on Wednesday for a previously-scheduled briefing, and was grilled by outraged opposition lawmakers who demanded clarity about what happened. Former Premier Matteo Renzi accused the right-wing government of hypocrisy given its stated crackdown on human traffickers.
“But when a trafficker whom the International Criminal Court tells us is a dangerous criminal lands on your table, it’s not like you chase him down, you brought him home to Libya with a plane of the Italian secret services,” said Renzi of the Italia Viva party. “Either you’ve gone crazy or this is the image of a hypocritical, indecent government.”
The Democratic Party demanded Premier Giorgia Meloni respond specifically to parliament about the case, saying it raised “grave questions” given the known abuses in Libyan prisons for which al-Masri is accused. Nordio didn't respond.
Italy has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, on whom it relies to patrol its coasts and prevent waves of migrants from leaving. Any trial in The Hague of al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.
Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept, and have accused Italy of being complicit in their mistreatment.
Two humanitarian groups, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Refugees in Libya, which have documented abuses committed against migrants in Libyan detention facilities, said they were incredulous that Italy let al-Masri go.
David Yambio, a 27-year-old from South Sudan who said he was abused by al-Masri while he was detained at the Mitiga prison in 2019-2020, said he felt betrayed by Italy. Yambio, who eventually escaped from the prison and arrived in Italy on a smuggler’s boat in 2022, said he had a “fleeting feeling of justice” when he heard that al-Masri had been arrested in Turin.
“Those who waited long before me, the Libyans who are victims of his criminal network, his war crimes, have been wanting for this day to come,” said Yambio, who received asylum and now lives in Modena and runs his Refugees in Libya advocacy group. “But when it came, it was immediately extinguished hours before it could even truly be felt in our hearts.”
But Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights which focuses on migrants in Libya, said Italy’s release of al-Masri was expected. He said his release shows the power of militias who control the flow of migrants to Europe through Libya’s shores.
“Tripoli militias are able to pressure (Italy) because they control the migrants file,” he told The Associated Press.
Militias in western Libya are part of the official state forces tasked with intercepting migrants at sea, including in the EU-trained coast guard. They also run state detention centers, where abuses of migrants are common.
As a result, militias — some of them led by warlords the U.N. has sanctioned for abuses — benefit from millions in funds the European Union gives to Libya to stop the migrant flow to Europe.
The European Commission spokesman reaffirmed all EU members had pledged to cooperate with the court.
“We respect the court’s impartiality and we are fully attached to international criminal justice to combat impunity," said EU commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni. In a 2023 summit, the EU leaders committed “to cooperate fully with the court, including rapid execution of any pending arrests,” he added.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Paolo Santalucia in Rome and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed.
FILE - View of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio puts his hand to his head during the presentation of the report on the justice administration, at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)