CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – During shortstop Amed Rosario’s post-game press conference with translator Augustin Rivero following Friday night’s dramatic walk-off win on a wild pitch, one word stood out as he described the chaos: "Loco."
If you’re looking for a way to describe Rosario after a series that wrapped up with an 11-4 route of the Twins on Monday afternoon at Progressive Field, it starts and stops with: "En fuego."
“He’s a freak. He's an he's an unbelievable hitter,” said center fielder Myles Straw. “He can get you with the long ball, get you with a triple. He can single you to death.”
Rosario belted a 3-run home run to break open the game and give the Guardians a 7-3 lead on his way to collecting two more hits. He finished the series where Cleveland took 4-of-5 from Minnesota going 11-for-25 with two home runs and 11 RBIs.
“I've heard multiple guys around the league talk about him and just how good of a hitter he is,” Straw continued. I mean, you guys see his four hits on the scoreboard almost every night. It's tough to do get four hits in a Major League Baseball game.
Straw reached base three times with a triple and a pair of walks as Cleveland belted out 14 hits. The Guardians offense also got a pair of knocks from Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Adres Gimenez.
Josh Naylor added two hits including a mammoth 3-run shot to the seats in right field to get the Guardians on the board in the first inning and a double to lead off the 5th.
Cal Quantrill earned his team-leading 13th in of the season, but it didn’t come without a little adversity. Quantrill got off to a great start, but things took a turn the second time through the lineup for the Guardians starter.
“I thought fastball execution wasn't very good today, and it put me in trouble,” Quantrill said. “We talk about starting pitchers bending and not breaking. And I felt like today that's kind of exactly what we did.”
Minnesota scratched across a pair of runs in the 5th inning and scraped up another in the 6th before Rosario flung the doors open in the bottom of the 6th.
If the fireworks weren’t enough from Rosario, Luke Maile provided a solo shot in the 8th as part of a four-run inning that gave the Guardians more than enough cushion. Minnesota ended the game with a position player, Jermaine Palacios on the mound.
The Guardians impressive five-game set puts them firmly in the driver’s seat in the American League Central Division race as the team departs for a three-game series with the White Sox. Cleveland has a four-game lead on the White Sox and has gapped Minnesota by seven.
Their magic number is now down to 12 games.
“Because of how they played these games, I mean, they're fun,” Francona said. “This is why these guys work so hard. And it's a first for a lot of them. That doesn't mean you can't do it.”