CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians used the 4th of July to bounce back from a recent offensive slump.
Steven Kwan collected three more hits, including a home run, and four Guardians drove in a pair of runs as Cleveland took the rubber match from the White Sox 8-4 Thursday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from the series finale with the White Sox.
Deuces wild – Kwan, Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez and Bo Naylor drove in two runs each in the win and four players also collected at least two hits. “I think today's about as good as we've looked offensively in about a week,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We looked like ourselves today. We talked before the game. Alby [bench coach Craig Albernaz] and I were like, man, give Ben [Lively] a lead and let him do his thing. And our guys went out and did just that and that really killed the momentum that they've had against us the last couple days and it was really big for us to score first.”
Kwan-derful afternoon – Kwan’s leadoff home run in the third was his eighth of the season. “He's just a pure hitter,” Vogt said. “Like yesterday, he didn't look like himself. Comes right back out today, gets a single the other way, then he hits his homer… Kwani just continues to just dazzle and it's just been really fun.” The All-Star left fielder upped his average to .367 with his Major League leading 12th three-hit game of the season. With five plate appearances Thursday, Kwan has now qualified for the batting title. “It's really cool,” Kwan said. “I think it's a bigger indicator that the injury's kind of behind [me] now. That was a big thing. That was kind of not my identity, but that was definitely a big thing on my mind, kind of seeing the injury happen, going through the rehab process and then being able to come back from that.”
Heads up hustle – Angel Martinez’s hustle in the bottom of the third helped ignite a four-run inning for the Guardians. Martinez doubled after Kwan homered and moved to third after tagging up on Jose Ramirez’s fly out to right. With the White Sox infield in Martinez hustled home and beat the throw from White Sox first baseman Gavin Sheets after Josh Naylor hit a grounder to him for Cleveland’s third run of the afternoon. “He got a great jump on the contact play right there,” Vogt said. “You got to take a shot and he read that hop right away and you could tell he was going to beat it. Just heads up baseball player and great, great base running.”
Lively reliable – Guardians starter Ben Lively threw six innings to pick up his eighth win of the season. “In a lot of ways Ben's been the most stable part of our rotation all year,” Vogt said. “We've talked about it since spring training, his story is so incredible. Up, down, up, down, up, down, go overseas, come back and he's gotten a chance to be in a rotation and he's taking it and run with it and the consistency at which he attacks every game. He's filling up the zone, he's not afraid. We feel really good every time Ben takes the ball and it is so fun to watch.” Lively, who allowed three earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts and a walk, is the first starter since Corey Kluber in 2016 to win five straight home starts. “I mean, straight up. I could have been here for two weeks,” Lively said. “I mean, it's just the way it goes. And I just figured a couple of fastball locations out and had a couple of good games and I just don't want to look back. Of course, you always fear that rough one, but just [keep my] foot down.”
Rubber stamp – The Guardians improved to 6-0 at home in rubber matches this season. Cleveland also won their 19th series of the season, 11th at home. “The mindset of the locker room is pretty much kind of the feeling of win every game,” Lively said. “It's like series, become series, but we just attack right away and half the time we've been winning the first couple games of the series and it's, we're not pushing ourselves in the last game. I mean, I just feel like every day is the same. It's cool.”
Roster moves – Before the game the Guardians activated right handed reliever Nick Sandlin from the 15-day injured list, called up infielder Angel Martinez from AAA Columbus and sent right hander Eli Morgan and Jose Tena back to AAA Columbus. Sandlin, who is 5-0 with a 3.49 ERA in 33 relief outings in 2024, landed on the IL due to lower back inflammation on June 17.
Up next – Series opener with the San Francisco Giants Friday at 7:10 p.m. RHP Tanner Bibee (7-2, 3.47) vs. TBD.
