CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians are back atop the AL Central thanks to Minnesota’s 6-2 loss to the Orioles and their 10-6 win over the Royals Saturday.
Josh and Bo Naylor were among four Guardians to collect three hits and the brothers drove in two runs apiece while Josh Bell, who also had three hits, delivered a critical two-run single in the eighth to put the game away.
“A lot to celebrate, especially seeing Josh there,” Bo Naylor said.
Here’s our Final 9 from a roller coaster of an afternoon at the ballpark.
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1. It was a rough afternoon to be a pitcher. The two teams combined for 16 runs and 30 hits with 17 runners left on base. Cleveland had a season-high 18 hits.
2. Center fielder Myles Straw and second baseman Andres Gimenez saved the lead for the Guardians in the top of the eighth when Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez hit an RBI double, but Drew Waters was thrown out at home trying to score the tying run thanks to a brilliant one-handed grab and throw from Straw and then a quick relay from Gimenez to catcher Bo Naylor. “I actually think that’s the best relay I’ve ever seen,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “I mean from start to finish, shoot man, if somebody sneezed, it’s going to not work. It was from Miles to Gime to Bo. That was really something to watch.” The Royals lost the replay challenge. “There's a few things that all had to happen,” Straw said. “If it touches that fence, it’s going to die and you don’t get that hop. So there’s a lot of aspects of it and Gimenez, he always does the job. I mean that guy’s got me ten assists or 10 plus. And not to mention Bo did a great job on that, on the backside.”
3. Cleveland struck with some two-out magic in the bottom of the first inning. Josh Naylor slapped an RBI single to right to score Jose Ramirez, who doubled. Royals right fielder Drew Waters slipped on the wet grass after fielding the ball, but Ramirez was on his way home anyway to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead. Two more runs crossed in the second thanks to Straw’s sacrifice fly to right that scored Bell, who walked to lead off the inning, and an RBI single from catcher Bo Naylor to score Will Brennan, who also singled to give the Guardians a 3-0 lead.
4. The base running for the Guardians left a lot to be desired Saturday. In the second inning Bo Naylor could have scored on Amed Rosario’s single to left but there was confusion with third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, who was waving Naylor around after Royals left fielder MJ Melendez slipped while fielding the ball, but Naylor stayed at the bag. In the fifth inning, Bell tried to score on Brennan’s single, but Melendez beat him by plenty with the throw home to Royals catcher Freddy Fermin. Brennan then got caught between second and third on a ground ball by Straw to third and was out. In the seventh, Steven Kwan got picked off first.
5. The Guardians added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend to a 5-0 advantage when they opened in the inning with three consecutive singles. Steven Kwan’s RBI single brought in Straw and Rosario reached on a fielder’s choice and error on Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia, which allowed Bo Naylor to score. Rosario was given an RBI on the play.
6. Bobby Witt Jr., who has accounted for most of the Royals’ highlights, got Kansas City on the board in the top of the fifth when he roped an RBI triple to the right field corner to cut Cleveland’s lead to 5-1. He homered to the bleachers in the seventh to make it a 7-4 game.
7. Bell had the at-bat of the day in the bottom of the eighth. Bell fouled a ball off his leg but after being looked at by a trainer stayed in and on the 10th pitch of the at-bat delivered a two-run single to the wall in center. “You don't get a ton of sympathy in those situations and they probably deserve it, but I know that that swing had to feel good,” Francona said. Bell struggled rounding the bag at first but the clutch hit restored order and put the Guardians up 10-6.
8. Guardians starter Gavin Williams started off electric but faded by the sixth inning. Williams struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings while allowing three runs on eight hits with one walk to pick up his first major league win. “It's awesome I got my first one out of the way,” Williams said. Kansas City opened the top of the sixth with three consecutive hits off Williams, including Kyle Isbel’s RBI double to cut Cleveland’s lead to 6-2. Waters added a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3, ending Williams’ afternoon. “Seemed like when he went on the sixth, all of a sudden it didn’t seem like he quite had the same conviction in his fastball and it was kind of showing,” Francona said. “So we got him out of there, but I thought the first five was really good.”
9. The game, which drew the ninth home crowd of over 30,000 of the season Saturday, was delayed exactly one hour by rain. It was the second delayed start in three days on the homestand.