CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It took a while, but the Cleveland Guardians big guns flexed their muscles.
Andres Gimenez tied the game at 1 with his seventh home run of the season in the second inning before Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor slugged back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the sixth as part of a four-run rally to lead the Guardians past the Kansas City Royals 6-1 Thursday night at Progressive Field.
“It’s nice,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said of the power surge. “I mean now you see what Atlanta, how they enjoy that, because to that point it was one all, and all of the sudden you look up and we got a couple run leads, so we’ll take them when we can get them.”
Here’s our Final 9 from what started off as a soggy night but dried out in time for the Guards to pull within a game of .500 at 43-44.
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1. After struggling to do much off Royals starter Jordan Lyles, who came into Thursday night’s game 1-11 with a 6.68 ERA, the Guardians put four on the board in the bottom of the sixth ignited by the Ramirez and Naylor blasts off Royals reliever Amir Garrett. “We try to put the ball in play and play hard and good things happen if you do that,” Naylor said. “We had some really good at-bats tonight from some of the guys and we just try to carry that fire into the whole entire game. So it’s a good team win all around.” It marked the third time -- but the first since April 23 (Naylor and Josh Bell) -- this season that Cleveland hit back-to-back blasts.
2. Guardians right fielder Will Brennan reached on an error by Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez that also allowed second baseman Andres Gimenez, who stole second and third after walking, to score and make it 4-1. Bo Naylor’s two-out RBI double scored Brennan for a 5-1 lead and ended an 0-19 streak for the rookie catcher to cap the four-run inning.
3. A few pitches prior to Gimenez's blast in the second, he crushed one, but a good 15 feet wide of the foul pole down the right field line. Gimenez’s home run was the only damage the Guardians were able to do against Lyles. Gimenez also stole three bases, matching his career high in a game, and scored three runs. “Very dynamic,” Francona said. “Stealing second, stealing third. Even on the play where he scored, he’s not going on contact, but he stayed with his head up and when the ball scooted past Lopez, he scores. He’s his own coach and played a really, really good game tonight.”
4. The Royals struck first in the top of the first off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. First baseman Nick Pratto delivered an RBI single to left to score shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who also singled with one out, for a 1-0 lead. It would be the only run Bibee would allow.
5. Bibee was able to work five innings, but he struggled with his command and ran up his pitch count quickly thanks to four walks. “I think it was like 45, something like that, around that area in two innings,” Bibee said of his elevated pitch count early. “I just kind of had to gather myself after the second inning and just try to get through some more just so I can help out the pen, help out the team [and] keep them in the game.” He also struck out four while throwing 91 pitches, 50 of them for strikes. “I thought he competed really well,” Francona said. “Again, a lot of deep counts, high pitch count, and I think he could have probably kept going. I'm trying to balance young kids in the major leagues for the first time and our bullpen and everybody else and I just thought when you’re pitching in a game like that where it’s [tight] every inning, I just think that takes a lot out of you. And I want this kid to pitch all year and for about 10 more years.”
6. Eli Morgan, Enyel De Los Santos, Trevor Stephan and Nick Sandlin each pitched a scoreless inning in relief for the Guardians. Morgan was credited with his fourth win of the season.
7. Myles Straw delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach at 6-1 and allow Gimenez to score his third run of the evening.
8. Thursday night’s win marked the 29th time the Guardians scored five or more runs and they improved to 24-5 in such games. “I think we just try to carry momentum day in, day out,” Naylor said. “Had a big win tonight, try to carry that into tomorrow’s game. Then the day after that, day after that. We just want to play hard every night. Some nights aren't going to go our way and that’s just baseball. So if we play hard, we control the controllables we’ll be okay.”
9. The game was delayed an hour and 21 minutes due to light rain and took 2:50 to play. “I mean, it was a little shorter than last week, so that was pretty good,” Bibee said of the delay. “But just kind of try not to think about the game too much. Whatever I’m doing, it’s pretty easy with the guys in the locker room to kind of keep busy and just kind of do whatever.”