Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor hit a solo home run, helping the Cleveland Guardians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Sunday.
The Guardians, leaders of the Central section of the American, signed a fifth victory in a row and they find themselves 23 games above the .500 mark.
The Guardians and their rookie manager, Stephen Vogt, have the best home record in the majors at 26-9, and they hold an eight-game lead over the Minnesota Twins.
“(Kwan) leads us. When he’s good, everyone’s good, Naylor said. I don’t think we can thank him more as an offense. He is an incredible teammate and an incredible human. »
Tim Herrin (3-0) recorded the victory after shutting out the Blue Jays in the fourth inning. Emmanuel Clase collected his 24th save this season, a record in the American, when he retired George Springer to end the game.
“Our guys raised their game once again,” Vogt said. ‘Kwanny’ doesn’t miss pitchers’ mistakes and Josh, it’s impressive what he accomplishes. »
Rookie player Spencer Horwitz hit two solo long balls while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer for Toronto, who lost a sixth straight game. The Blue Jays were swept in two straight series for the first time since 2019.
“We had our chances, but our starting pitchers have had some unusual starts lately,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. The story of the season is that we’re not hitting as many home runs as we can and we’re allowing more runs than we should. »
Kwan has hit two balls in five plate appearances and has a .390 batting average. He is just 11 appearances away from qualifying for the top of the Majors in average.
Naylor, who tied a career high with a 20th four-base hit, also had a single and a double in addition to scoring two runs.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Kwan said. It’s pleasant. »
The Guardians took a 4-3 lead thanks to three runs in the third inning. The latter were allocated by Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi (4-7).
Kwan and Naylor hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. A first against Zach Pop and the second against Brendon Little, bringing the score to 6-3.
José Ramírez scored two runs in the first three innings for the Guardians. Angel Martinez drove him to second on his first career hit in the majors.
