*Photo from ESPN*
One swing can make or break the whole game. Austin Hedges homered, Bo Naylor blasted a grand slam, and the Cleveland Guardians rolled past the Los Angeles Angels with a 7-1 victory Saturday in Cleveland.
After losing two straight games, the Guardians picked up a much needed win, just their 4th in 10 games. It came on the back of their two catchers, with Hedges and Naylor combining to drive in 6 of the 7 runs scored by the Guardians offense. The long ball told the tale for Cleveland as well, with 3 homers being hit by the lineup.
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said of Naylor that "It’s good for him to have an offensive day and not have to be locked into scouting reports and calling a game and going back and forth. He’s just a click off. What a huge moment for him, left on left, not an easy matchup for him, kind of challenged him a little bit today, but he answered the call and came up with a huge hit."
After the first inning went by without any runs, Cleveland jumped ahead in the second. Hedges did so, hitting a two run home run to left field to give the Guardians a 2-0 lead. Ramon Laureano clubbed the team's second homer of the day in the 4th, a solo blast to make it 3-0. Zach Neto got the Angels on the board in the 5th with an RBI single.
With the score 3-1 Guardians in the 6th inning, Naylor came up with the bases loaded. He broke the game open with his first career grand slam, hitting it to right center field to make it a 7-1 game, putting it out of reach.
Cleveland outfielder Steven Kwan said of Naylor's grand slam that "With him and how short his career has been so far, I think every failure he takes so strongly and I think we have to keep reminding him how good of a player he is, how hard he hits the ball every single day. I think he just has such high expectations for himself. To see that go out, I mean everybody’s so happy for him. He’s capable of doing that and so much more."
Ben Lively went 6 innings in his start for the Guardians, allowing one run while striking out 5 hitters. In relief, the trio of Nick Sandlin, Cade Smith, and Scott Barlow each fired a scoreless inning to seal the win for the Guardians.
Reid Detmers was the starter for the Angels and was responsible for all 7 runs allowed on 5 hits and 4 walks in 5 2/3 innings. Hunter Strickland got the last out of the 6th inning before Carson Fulmer fired two scoreless innings.
Detmers said of his start that "It was a poor performance. I don’t have any other explanation. I just didn’t execute very well. I was feeling good and the two homers before that hurt but I didn’t think much of it. But the three walks in the sixth can’t happen. And they made me pay."
The series finale is set for Sunday afternoon. With the series tied, both teams are vying for the series win as Carlos Carrasco takes the ball for the Guardians against Griffin Canning.
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