CLEVELAND -- Bo Naylor had no doubt in his mind where he was headed in the eighth inning on Wednesday night, when Steven Kwan lined a single over his head and into center field.
“Everyone's on the same page,” Naylor said. “And right off the bat, the only thing on your mind is trying to score that run.”
Kwan’s base hit drove home Naylor, and it paved the way for the Guardians to beat the Orioles, 3-2, at Progressive Field as Cleveland continued its hottest stretch of the season. The Guardians improved to 51-50, marking the first time they have had a winning record since the morning of June 27 (40-39), when their eventual 10-game losing streak was at one.
Cleveland is 11-2 since July 7, when it snapped the skid. That’s good for the best record in the American League over that span.
More important to the go-ahead run than Naylor’s baserunning was his swing that set it all up.
O’s right-hander Colin Selby threw him a 95.8 mph four-seam fastball in an 0-1 count that was on the inner half of the plate. Naylor smashed it to the left-center-field gap for a two-out double.
“That swing tonight, that should tell him everything -- that you're on the right track, you're starting to roll,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “When you can hit a low line drive the other way, that's when your swing is at its absolute best. What a great swing.”
Naylor’s meaning to the Guardians extends beyond his offensive numbers, as he is the team’s starting catcher. But he has had a tough season at the plate. Through 76 games entering Wednesday, he had a slash line of .170/.274/.353.
Naylor perhaps unlocked something with an adjustment he made recently while working with the Guardians’ hitting team. It boils down to Naylor being more fluid in the batter’s box and not forcing his body into certain positions. He said he has been focusing on just getting his swing off and not on trying to be perfect with his movements, something he was perhaps guilty of at times this season.
“It was kind of a mix of a lot of stuff,” Naylor said this week. “At times, trying to be perfect. Movement-wise, kind of putting too much focus on fixing and harping on stuff that might not have been helping me biomechanically. And then also, any hitter you talk to, if you have that kind of a focus while trying to execute an approach against a big league pitcher, you’re making things way more difficult on yourself.
“Simplicity is definitely the big thing, And I think for me, I trust my athleticism. I trust the gift I was given. I know I can hit. I know I can perform offensively, and that's something that I want to show. I think just trusting that my body will do what it wants to and what it's meant to do will pay off.”
Naylor said the adjustment stemmed from “a little bit of everything,” from his own performance to feedback from the coaching staff.
“I feel like I've definitely underperformed to the capabilities that I know I have and I trust that I have,” Naylor said, “and I've shown that I have had in the past. So that’s a part of it -- continuously wanting to go out there and perform on the offensive side and be there to pick up the guys and do my part.”
Naylor went 2-for-5 with a single and a solo homer on Monday in a 10-5 win over Baltimore, and he followed that up by walking twice on Tuesday in a 6-3 win. Adding his double on Wednesday to the mix, the results could provide some instant credibility to his adjustment.
But even taking those hits out of it, if Naylor is feeling more athletic at the plate and getting his swing off the way he wants to, he can take solace and know he’s on the right track.
Smashing a double with a 100.7 mph exit velocity can’t hurt, though.
“At this point, it's not perfect. No swing is perfect,” Naylor said Wednesday. “But I think that that's a good indicator that we're trending in the right direction. So I’m going to take that for what it is and feel really good, obviously, about the result.
“But ultimately, I understand that -- while we're heading in the right direction -- there's still more work to be done to continue to make it as consistent as possible.”