*Photo from ABC7 News*
It was a weight lifted off his shoulders indeed. Josh Naylor drove in two runs, Steven Kwan provided the big hit, and the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Oakland Athletics with a 7-6 victory on Wednesday in Cleveland.
The Guardians picked up their 3rd straight to inch closer to first place in the AL Central, still 3 games under .500. The big story was that of Bo Naylor, a rookie catcher. Previously going 0-19 in the majors, he picked up his first hit of his major league career, which helped spark the late rally in the 8th.
Naylor said of his first hit that it "Definitely feels like a big weight lifted off your shoulders. The guys around me have supported me so much. There’s always going to be another at-bat. So, I think it’s about continuing to going into every at-bat prepared and ready to do whatever you can. That one, that was my moment."
Esteury Ruiz gave the A's a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning on an RBI single that scored Tony Kemp. Ryan Noda then made it 4-0 when he blasted a 3 run home run to right field. The Guardians got 3 runs back in the bottom of the 3rd, making the score 4-3 on a two run single from Amed Rosario and a sac fly from Andres Gimenez.
Josh Naylor then tied the game 4-4 in the 5th on an RBI single. Ruiz and Seth Brown hit RBI singles in the top of the 7th to give the A's a 6-4 lead. Josh Naylor cut the deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the 7th with a solo home run. Kwan then doubled in the 8th inning, scoring Myles Straw to tie the game, but then Bo Naylor was also able to score thanks to a throwing error, putting the Guardians in front 7-6, a lead they didn't relinquish.
Starting on the mound in his MLB debut for the Guardians was Gavin Williams, who allowed 4 runs on 4 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched. Sam Hentges and Trevor Stephan got two outs each before Eli Morgan got the win with a scoreless 8th inning. Emmanuel Clase pitched the 9th to get the save.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Williams's debut that "The whole night was encouraging. There’s a lot to talk about and I thought Gavin did a really good job varying his times to the plate. I asked him when he came out, ‘Do you have a heartbeat?’ He goes, ‘Oh, yeah,’ so for him to control what he controlled was good."
On the mound for the Athletics was Paul Blackburn, who allowed 4 runs on 9 hits and a walk in 5 innings. Lucas Erceg pitched a scoreless inning before Sam Long allowed a run in the 7th. Austin Pruitt got the loss with two runs allowed, one earned, in the 8th inning.
Blackburn said of the tight loss after the game that "It’s a bunch of one-run games. One bounce our way, and we’re on top in half of those games. I still feel like we’re playing good ball right now still. It’s just the one-run games, when you lose those, they hurt a little bit more."
The series concludes on Thursday afternoon in Cleveland. The Guardians go for the sweep with Logan Allen taking the mound, while the A's look to avoid getting swept as they start JP Sears.
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