The best relay Francona has ever seen? You bet 

CLEVELAND -- Guardians manager Terry Francona has been around baseball his entire life. So often, when an elite feat happens in front of him, he gets asked about whether it was the best performance he has ever seen. Rarely does he know how to compare all of the moments that are stored in his brain.

That was, until Saturday night, when he watched the most textbook relay from center fielder Myles Straw to second baseman Andrés Giménez to catcher Bo Naylor to cut down a runner at the plate.

“I actually think that's the best relay I've ever seen,” Francona said. “Shoot man, if somebody sneezed it’s gonna not work. From Myles to [Giménez] to Bo, that was really something to watch.”

When looking at the box score and seeing that the Guardians won, 10-6, over the Royals at Progressive Field, it’s hard to imagine that at one point in the eighth inning, it seemed like Cleveland was on the verge of losing the lead. But one pivotal play made sure momentum stayed in the Guardians’ favor.

Let’s break it down.

The Guardians had a two-run lead in the top of the eighth inning with Enyel De Los Santos on the mound, Matt Duffy on second and Nicky Lopez on first and two outs already recorded. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia served a line drive into right-center field that bounced off the warning track and off the wall, splitting Straw and right fielder Will Brennan, easily scoring one run, possibly two.

“I mean, I wanted to catch it off the bat,” Straw said. “Obviously did not. I knew Nicky Lopez is a good runner, so I knew I had to kind of hurry.”

The ball ricocheted off the padding of the outfield wall, just above the chain-linked fence where Cleveland’s relievers watch each game from the bullpen.

“I mean, that fence out there, if it touches that fence, it’s gonna die and you don’t get that hop,” Straw said. “So, there’s a lot of aspects of it.”

As the ball made its descent back down toward the ground, Straw interfered with a barehanded grab, as his back was to the infield. Blindly, he turned and fired to where his cutoff man should be.

“I knew I didn’t have time to use the glove or anything. So, went with the barehand,” Straw said. “So, just spin, throw, you know [Giménez is] gonna be in the right spot and like I said, [Giménez] does his job all the time. He’s got me like 10 assists.”

Giménez was in the right spot at the right time. As he was making the catch from Straw, Giménez already began his crow hop, building up momentum to fire home in time to stop the tying run from scoring.

"I think honestly that was the most critical part is getting it and getting it out early,” Naylor said.

Giménez fired a 91.7 mph strike that was perfectly on target to Naylor at the plate.

“Give [Giménez] credit for being there because that’s where he had to be,” Francona said. “And then it was just a missile from [Giménez].”

Giménez’s throw came up just shy of Naylor, who was stationed out in front of home and easily handled the short hop.

“That ball could’ve eaten up Bo easily,” Francona said. “There was a lot going on there. Everything went right.”

In one swift motion, Naylor secured the throw from Giménez and reached back to apply the tag on Lopez, who was diving in to touch the farthest point of the plate from Naylor.

“[It was a] nice one hop to me and laid down a good tag,” Naylor said. “I think it was a really, really good team effort.”

The ruling on the field was an out, but the Royals challenged the play to assure that Naylor did not break any of MLB’s plate-blocking rules. The replays were clear that Naylor was far from infringing and the call was upheld, ending the inning -- and the Royals’ rally.

“That’s some of the stuff we work on in practice,” Naylor said, “making sure we’re in the right positioning, so a play like that, my positioning just comes naturally at that point.”

The Guardians needed to hold on to this win. It moved them above .500 for the first time since entering play on April 22 and it gave them sole possession of first place in the AL Central. This is the type of confidence the club wants to have going into the All-Star break. This play only builds that confidence. And Straw showed it with his grin as he talked about it.

He added: “It’s fun to make those kind of plays.”