Canada’s Naylor hits three-run homer as Guardians storm back in eighth to stun Angels
CLEVELAND — There was such little perception the Guardians might rally that Slider, the group’s fuzzy mascot, had stripped off his costume to go residence.
And then, it occurred.
Josh Naylor hit a three-run homer and Cleveland erupted for six runs within the eighth inning to storm again and stun the Los Angeles Angels 8-6 on Saturday night time, a win the Guardians hope can jump-start their season.
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“We needed it,” starter Cal Quantrill mentioned. “We wanted to earn one, earn one late and that was a hell of an inning. I’m actually happy with the blokes. They’ve been working onerous. They’ve been taking some warmth and that was good to see.
“Hopefully, that’s the start of something.”
Down 6-2 and seemingly headed for an additional disappointing loss, the Guardians, who’ve been on the backside of baseball in most offensive classes, pulled off an inconceivable win that appeared like so many final season on the best way to an AL Central title.
“It’s funny,” supervisor Terry Francona mentioned. “You spend four innings thinking, ‘I need to talk to these guys.’ And then about 10 minutes later it’s, ‘Way to go.’ An odd night.”
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Andres Gimenez additionally homered within the eighth for Cleveland, which till that time had hit into some robust luck and damage itself with unhealthy baserunning.
The Guardians strung collectively 4 straight singles with Jose Ramirez and Josh Bell driving in runs off reliever Andrew Wantz. Naylor, who Angels supervisor Phil Nevin walked deliberately within the ninth on Friday, then related on an 0-1 pitch from Ryan Tepera (2-2).
When Naylor’s fifth homer touched down within the right-field seats, Cleveland’s dugout exploded and a crowd of 27,644 followers, a few of whom had been booing earlier within the inning, lastly had one thing to get enthusiastic about.
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“We always play until the last out,” mentioned Naylor, who has hit an MLB-best seven go-ahead homers within the eighth inning or later since 2021. “We simply attempt to play onerous all 9 (innings). Anything can occur. We scored six runs in that inning and that’s sort of extraordinary in late innings.
“We have a confident group of guys here. We feed off each other’s energy. Good things happen when you do that.”
Eli Morgan (2-0) pitched one inning to get the win on his twenty seventh birthday. Trevor Stephan retired Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani to start out the ninth earlier than placing two runners on. The right-hander obtained Brandon Drury to floor out for his second save.
Mickey Moniak homered in his first at-bat this season and scored three runs for the Angels, who snapped their 10-game dropping streak at Progressive Field on Friday and had been in place to make it two straight wins earlier than their bullpen flopped.
Zach Neto hit a two-run homer for Los Angeles, which has misplaced 21 of 23 in Cleveland since 2015.
Nevin didn’t have his full bullpen accessible, however provided no excuses for this one slipping away.
“Four straight hits, you’ve got to stop the bleeding and find some more outs,” Nevin mentioned, referencing the eighth. “Tep’s (Tepera) been in those situations before. It just didn’t work out this time.”
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Ohtani doubled residence the primary of two runs for Los Angeles within the third, when the Angels obtained a slight scare as famous person Mike Trout was hit with a pitch on the left elbow.
After Moniak walked and stole second, Trout took a 94.1 mph fastball flush in a niche in his protecting padding. The three-time MVP grimaced in ache whereas strolling to first, however stayed in and went to 3rd on Ohtani’s hit.
Trout scored on Anthony Rendon’s sacrifice fly and he returned to his spot in heart subject carrying a compression sleeve.
Los Angeles turned a novel double play to maintain Cleveland off the scoreboard within the first.
The Guardians had runners at second and third with one out when Bell hit a fly to medium proper. Steven Kwan tagged at third and tried to attain, however proper fielder Hunter Renfroe made the catch after which an ideal throw to 3rd to get a sliding Rosario earlier than the run scored.
It was that sort of night time for the Guardians till it wasn’t.
“Yeah, baseball doesn’t always reward you right away, but we battled hard today,” Quantrill mentioned. “We stuck to our guns, that it’s tough to get us out 27 times. It paid off.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: Rendon was changed within the sixth inning with left groin tightness. … 1B Jared Walsh (complications, insomnia) got here out of his first rehab recreation for Triple-A Salt Lake City “feeling great,” in line with Nevin. Walsh will proceed to get at-bats whereas enjoying first and DH. Nevin mentioned Walsh is “on the right track,” however cautioned it might take a while earlier than he rejoins the membership.
Guardians: C Mike Zunino (neck stiffness) missed his second straight begin. He was accessible as a pinch-hitter and Francona indicated he may very well be again within the lineup Sunday.
UP NEXT
An 11:35 a.m. begin within the sequence finale Sunday and a highschool reunion between Angels LHP Patrick Sandoval (3-1, 3.41 ERA) and Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (1-1, 4.30), who had been teammates at Mission Viejo (Calif.).
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