After trailing for a majority of the game, the Cleveland Guardians strung together a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning and eventually defeated the visiting Kansas City Royals 7-5 on Wednesday afternoon.

Jhonkensy Noel’s run-scoring single put Cleveland ahead to stay.

The Guardians avoided getting swept by the Royals after dropping the first three contests of the four-game series. They regained sole possession of first place in a tightly-contested American League Central Division, after Kansas City tied things up on Tuesday.

Cleveland was trailing, 5-2, when Bo Naylor hit his 11th home run of the season to ignite the seventh-inning rally. Later in the inning, Josh Naylor, older brother of Bo, delivered an RBI single. Will Brennan and Noel topped off the scoring surge with two-out RBI singles to put the Guardians in front.

Andres Gimenez added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly RBI in the eighth inning to pad Cleveland’s lead. Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor each provided one RBI apiece for the Guardians’ earlier runs.

Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee gave up five runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out six batters over five innings in a no-decision. Eli Morgan (2-0) got the win in relief. Emmanuel Clase tallied his 39th save of the year, and the 149th of his career to tie Cody Allen for the franchise record.

Michael Wacha pitched six innings for the Royals, giving up five earned runs on nine hits, with seven strikeouts and no walks. He was relieved after giving up three consecutive hits to begin the seventh inning. Lucas Erceg (2-4) was saddled with the loss and charged with his fourth blown save of the year.

Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino went 4-for-5 and hit his 19th home run of the year. Bobby Witt Jr. (28th) and Michael Massey (11th) also homered for the Royals. Maikel Garcia and Adam Frazier each had a RBI.

Kansas City logged 11 hits as a team, while Cleveland had 13.

–Field Level Media