Josh Naylor drives in 3 as Guardians defeat Angels 6-3

Cleveland Guardians v Los Angeles Angels
Cleveland Guardians v Los Angeles Angels / Meg Oliphant/GettyImages

Coming off a disastrous 3-2 loss to Los Angeles the night before, the Cleveland Guardians needed to get back into the win column in the worst way. Slugging first baseman/designated hitter Josh Naylor made sure that happened in Cleveland's 6-3 victory Friday night.

Naylor drove in three of the Guardians' six runs as he recorded an RBI in three different ways. A routine single in the 3rd inning got things started as Steven Kwan came around to score, giving Cleveland a 1-0 lead. Naylor would walk with the bases loaded in the 6th, with Will Brennan scoring to make it a 4-1 game. The 8th inning would see Naylor drive in Kwan for a second time for his third and final RBI of the game via a sacrifice fly, increasing the Cleveland lead to 5-3.

Logan Allen started the game for Cleveland and was impressive in his 5 innings of work. Allen gave up just one run on three hits and walks while striking out six. This start got Allen back on track, as he had allowed four and five runs in his previous two starts. Before that little hiccup, Allen had not given up more than two runs in a start since the end of July.

Cleveland's bullpen continues to be an exercise in frustration. It seems to be less of a case of whether their relief arms will give up runs but more of who and how many. Friday was Nick Sandlin's turn, allowing two runs on two hits in just two-thirds of an inning. Sam Hentges was called in to rescue Sandlin after giving up a two-run home run to Logan O'Hoppe.

After blowing his major-league-leading 10th save the night before, Emmanuel Clase was back to pitching on the better end of the spectrum. Clase needed just 15 pitches for a 1-2-3- 9th inning en route to his 39th save of the year, a category in which he also leads.