CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Naylor brothers stole the show from Gavin Williams’ big league debut.
Williams survived a rocky third inning to pitch into the sixth but did not factor in the final outcome as the Cleveland Guardians rallied from 4-0 and 6-4 deficits thanks to a 4-for-4 night, including a home run, from Josh Naylor and his brother Bo’s first Major League hit that helped fuel an eighth inning rally to beat the Oakland A’s 7-6 Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
“We’ve just been grinding this year,” Josh Naylor said. “Some of the games last year, like we were on the right side of the one-run ball games. This year, earlier, we weren’t on the right side of those one-run ball games. We came back a lot last year and this year sometimes teams are coming back against us and we needed to find a better way to kind of finish the game. You know what I mean? I think we’re doing much better now. We’re just hitting the ball.
“So we as a group just, I don’t know, we just try to find ways just to win and just to battle. Some days aren’t going to be ours. Some days are. So I think that's just baseball.”
Here’s our Final 9 from the Guardians 15th one-run victory in a Major League most 32 games this season.
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1. The Guardians rallied for the second straight night to beat the A’s by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Steven Kwan doubled to right bringing home Myles Straw to tie the game at 6. Oakland right fielder Ramon Laureano committed his second error of the night on the play with a bad throw back to the infield allowing Bo Naylor to race home with the winning run.
2. The widely anticipated debut of the 6-foot-6 flame-throwing Williams went like this: 5 2/3 innings, four runs allowed on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Williams threw 84 pitches, 51 of those were strikes. His fastball registered 95-98, curveball around 78, changeup and slider 84-88 with regularity on the ballpark radar gun. “I was just trying to get in the zone really,” Williams said. “I feel like early on in the game I was being too fine.” After a rocky third, Williams bounced back by retiring 10 of the last 12 batters he faced before departing with two out in the sixth. “That was really encouraging,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “He had that the third inning where he gave up what four hits in a row. Actually those I think were the only four hits and they were right – boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But then he came back and had a seven-pitch inning and a five-pitch inning. That was really encouraging. There’s a lot to be encouraged about and I don’t think, just from hearing the guys today, he had his best stuff even and there can be a million reasons [why], but let him settle in and get to know him. But there’s a lot to like.”
3. Williams ran into trouble in the top of the third that saw the A’s first four hitters of the inning collect hits and score. The big blow came from first baseman Ryan Noda, who clubbed a three-run homer to the seats in right for a 4-0 lead. Second baseman Tony Kemp singled to lead off the top of the third for the first hit off Williams. Shortstop Tyler Wade followed with a double to left and Esteury Ruiz brought home Kemp with a single for a 1-0 lead before Noda’s blast.
4. The Guardians answered back in the bottom of the inning with three runs after the first five batters reached safely. Shortstop Amed Rosario brought home catcher Bo Naylor, who walked, with an RBI single. Kwan, who singled, also scored on the play after Laureano booted the ball and almost fell down. Rosario scored the third run of the inning on Andres Gimenez’s sacrifice fly to center.
5. Oakland scored a pair of runs in the seventh off Guardians reliever Sam Hentges. Ruiz drove home his second run of the night with a single and DH Seth Brown added a two-out single.
6. Josh Naylor continues his hot hitting with a 4-for-4 night. Naylor drilled an RBI single to right, through A’s first baseman Ryan Noda to score Ramirez, who tripled, to tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the fifth then pulled the Guardians within 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh with his ninth home run of the season – a solo shot to right. It was Naylor’s third career four hit game, all of them since May 31. Since the end of May, Naylor has hit in 16 of 19 games with 11 of them being multi-hit efforts and he is hitting .436 (34-for-78) over that stretch. He has 25 RBI in the seventh inning or later this season.
7. Jose Ramirez passed Larry Doby for 17th place on the Guardians all-time hit list with a single in the bottom of the third, his 1,235th career base hit. Ramirez went 4-for-4 including a tripe in the fifth. “It’s hard to get through those guys right now without getting nicked up,” Francona said of Josh Naylor and Ramirez. “And that’s the idea. That’s what you want when guys are in the middle [of the lineup].”
8. As another round of “Let's go Bo!” chants broke out in the bottom of the eighth, Bo Naylor collected his first major league hit by slapping a single to left center to snap an 0-19 to start his career and help fuel the winning rally. “It was definitely a special one,” Bo Naylor said. “Something that I'll always be grateful for. Really embracing the fans and kind of taking my breaths whenever I could in such a high intensity time. That’s something that I’ll never forget, so it was very special for me.” Bo’s big brother Josh cheered on from the dugout, slapping the padded railing with excitement. “It was awesome,” Josh Naylor said. “It was a very special moment, not only for me but for my entire family. I can’t even really describe how cool the thing was, but it was awesome to be a part of that.”
9. Guardians right fielder Will Brennan left Wednesday’s game in the bottom of the fifth with what the team said was “left shoulder soreness” after Brennan robbed A’s third baseman Jace Peterson with a diving catch in the top of the fourth inning. “He’s okay,” Francona said. “They don’t know if he jammed it or [injured it] when he skidded. So I don't think he's going to play tomorrow, but I don’t think he's also going to miss significant time. I just think he’s going to be sore tomorrow.”