Bo Naylor hit his first career grand slam, while Austin Hedges and Ramon Laureano also went deep as the Cleveland Guardians won 7-1 over the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
Cleveland’s Ben Lively (1-1) allowed four hits and three walks, but only a run and struck out five in six innings to lower his ERA to 2.08 in four starts.
With the Guardians ahead 3-1 and two out and the bags packed in the sixth inning, Naylor — who struck out his previous two trips against Angels starter Reid Detmers (3-3) — sent the left-hander’s curveball well into the right-center field seats for his first homer since April 10.
Hedges’ two-run shot and a solo homer from Laureano, each their first of 2024, built an early lead for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who rebounded from a 6-0 loss in Friday’s opener of this three-game set.
Those individual efforts helped momentarily cushion the blow after Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan, who entered batting an AL-leading .356, exited after three innings with left hamstring tightness.
Detmers, meanwhile, yielded five hits and four walks in addition to all seven runs while striking out seven in 5 2/3 innings. He’s allowed 16 runs in losing his last three starts after giving up three earned in going 3-0 in the first four for Los Angeles, which has dropped 12 of 15.
Cleveland got to Detmers in the second when Tyler Freeman singled and scored on Hedges’ golf shot onto the left-field fan porch. In the fourth, Laureano put the full bat head on the ball, which landed well into the left-field seats for a 3-0 Cleveland lead.
Lively, meanwhile, was in good shape until the fifth, when he allowed his first two walks with two outs. Zach Neto then followed with an RBI single off the glove of third baseman Jose Ramirez.
However, Detmers couldn’t keep the Angels close and yielded three walks in the sixth. Naylor then delivered his no-doubt blast with two outs to break things open with his third homer of the season.
Taylor Ward had two of the four hits for Los Angeles, which is 3-24 at Cleveland since the start of the 2015 season.
–Field Level Media
