CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Guardians are experiencing quite the power surge in 2024.
Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor homered as the Guardians completed a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-5 win Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from the series finale with the Blue Jays.
Power surge – From here on out Kwan will set a new career-high when he hits a home run. The current mark is seven. Same goes for Josh Naylor, who tied his career-high with his 20 th of the season Sunday. “Just experience understanding the player you are and the player you want to become, learning your swing a little bit more each and every year,” Josh Naylor said. Both blasts came in the bottom of the fourth and gave the Guardians their largest lead, 6-3. “Power comes with age and experience and our guys are young and they're continuing every day,” Guardians manager Steven Vogt said. “They get a little bit older, a little more experienced. And as you continue to stockpile that stuff, you're going to start to see some guys really understand what pitches they can drive.” On top of the power, Kwan’s consistency at the plate continues. Another two-hit game kept his average at .390. “He's been incredible as always,” Josh Naylor said. “He leads us. When he goes, we all go. Someone we all kind of look up to and look to just start everything off for us and he's done an incredible job. I don't think we can thank him enough as an offense. I'm sure the pitchers thank him too. He helps out everyone on this team. So yeah, super lucky to have him on this side and grateful to watch him grow over the last few years.”
Shell shocked – Triston McKenzie continues to serve up home runs and it is becoming a problem. Vladimir Guerrero smashed his ninth of the season – a two-run shot in the top of the first – that gave the Blue Jays an early 2-0 lead. In the top of the third Spencer Horwitz led off with his first of the season. “It's command,” Vogt said. “The stuff's great. It's just the command, the inconsistency of being able to execute pitches time and time again or one after the other, is what I meant to say, sorry. But for Tristan, he's working through some things and we're seeing a lot of promising signs, just the consistency of the command. It's been a struggle for him this year at times, and we're confident he's going to find it.” McKenzie has served up 17 homers in 16 starts in 2024 and Sunday marked the fourth time McKenzie allowed multiple home runs in a start this year. “I think I did a decent job today in terms of just minimizing the damage,” McKenzie said. “Just lots of deep counts.” A rain delay in the bottom of the third ended McKenzie’s afternoon, but he struggled. His first warm up pitch of the afternoon went over catcher David Fry’s head and hit the backstop. It was an ominous sign of things to come. McKenzie walked four and struck out six. He threw 74 pitches but just 41 were for strikes but maintains the partially torn ligament in his pitching arm is not to blame. “I think [I’m feeling] better start by start,” McKenzie said. “So getting to the meat of it here. Just trying to stay out there for the boys and eat innings and get outs out there.”
Delaying the inevitable – Cleveland took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third after loading the bases with no outs and a 40-minute rain delay. Johnathan Rodriguez walked when play resumed to tie the game and Bo Naylor scored on a double play off the bat of Brayan Rocchio to put the Guards in front.
Better than it looked – Reliever Darren McCaughan, acquired May 9 from the Marlins for cash, made his Guardians debut Sunday, and it did not start well. Toronto, who sent eight men to the plate in the top of the fifth scored a pair of runs, including Horwitz’s second home run of the afternoon. “What an outing he had,” Vogt said. “I know he gave up the two runs and people are going to talk about that, but we needed two innings from him and he gave it to us and held the lead. I've talked about that all the time. Bullpen guys, you come in, keep the lead and you're doing your job. So what a huge job by Darren coming in and keeping the game where it was.” McCaughan’s second inning went smoother despite allowing a leadoff single. He ended the inning by picking off Isiah Kiner-Falefa at first.
First hit – Angel Martinez collected his first Major League hit in the bottom of the second and another in the bottom of the eighth.
2-out rally – The Guardians answered in the bottom of the first with three consecutive two-out singles from Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor and David Fry, who drove home Ramirez to get Cleveland on the board with their first run.
Fry day-to-day – Fry was lifted in the top of the third inning due to right elbow inflammation. The team said Fry, who started Sunday catching and has been the Guardians’ star utilityman this season, is day-to-day. “He's just got some forearm elbow tightness,” Vogt said. “So we are just being really, really cautious and got him out of there. So we will evaluate him tonight and then see where he is at tomorrow.” The injury occurred when Fry tried throwing out Justin Turner at second base on a wild pitch in the first inning. Bo Naylor replaced Fry in the lineup and behind the plate.
Home cookin’ – Not only did the Guardians sweep the series, they improved to a Major League-best 26-9 at home while drawing 100,480 fans. The homestand drew 176,510, the most for a six-game homestand since August of 2017. “I think the fans definitely help. I think how we even play helps,” McKenzie said. “They come out and they definitely support us hard. So it's great to be home, but I don't think we change our mindset when we're on the road either.” Cleveland has seen a 21.6% increase in attendance through 35 games this season.
Up next – Guardians hit the road and open a three-game series Monday at Baltimore. RHP Tanner Bibee (5-2, 3.65) vs. LHP Cade Povich (0-1, 3.94) at 6:35.
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