Bo knows pinch-hit heroics: Naylor's go-ahead 3-run HR fuels Guardians

8:26 PM UTC

CLEVELAND -- A Guardians homestand that began with a walk-off win on 's pinch-hit sacrifice fly against the White Sox concluded Sunday with Naylor providing even heftier pinch-hit heroics against the Giants.

Sent to the plate with two out, two on and Cleveland trailing San Francisco by a run in the sixth, Naylor smacked reliever Sean Hjelle’s inside fastball to the right-field seats to give the Guards the lead in what turned out to be a 5-4 victory in front of 32,012 fans at Progressive Field.

The Guards sealed a series win and yet another successful homestand in which they went 4-2 and drew some big holiday-week crowds. Cleveland surpassed one million in attendance in its 41st home date Sunday -- the fastest it has reached that mark since 2008.

With starter Carlos Carrasco touched for two runs in the second and another in the third, the Guardians’ lineup had some work to do early. They were able to generate a pair of runs against Giants starter Hayden Birdsong in the fourth, when an Angel Martínez single and José Ramírez double set up an RBI single from Bo’s older brother, Josh, and an RBI double from Daniel Schneemann. But when Josh was thrown out on a close play at the plate on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Tyler Freeman, it stalled Cleveland’s momentum.

That is, until the sixth, when, with two out, Andrés Giménez and Freeman both singled to spark a rally. Manager Stephen Vogt sent Bo Naylor to the plate in place of Austin Hedges, and, after falling behind 0-2, Naylor worked the count to 2-2 and drove Hjelle’s mistake two-seamer on the inside edge of the plate over the right-field wall to swing the game.