Naylor’s four hits, 3 RBI, lead Guardians to win over Diamondbacks

PHOENIX (AP) — Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona has a simple system that he uses to determine if Josh Naylor is hitting the baseball well.

If the slugger ’s helmet stays on while swinging, there’s probably some good things happening. If it’s falling off, he’s probably chasing some bad pitches.

Naylor’s helmet stayed in place on Sunday, and the hits were flowing.

The Guardians’ cleanup hitter had four hits and three RBIS, and the Guardians avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-3.

“When you see him swinging and his helmet’s not coming off, he’s going to be just fine,” Francona said. “There’s so much to like about his swing.”

The Guardians cruised through the series finale, scoring two runs in the first, three in the second and six more in the fourth for an 11-1 lead. Righthander Tanner Bibee (3-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out six and walking three.

Cleveland pounded out 16 hits. The lineup accomplished much of its damage off D-backs starter Zach Davies, who has struggled since his return from the injured list in late May.

Cleveland scored two in the first after leadoff batter Steven Kwan reached on an error by shortstop Nick Ahmed. José Ramírez drove Kwan home with a triple and Josh Naylor’s double scored Ramírez.

Kwan was in the middle of the action again in the second with a two-run triple that scored Will Brennan and Myles Straw. Amed Rosario’s sacrifice fly pushed the Guardians’ advantage to 5-0.

Kwan scored four times and drove in three runs. Straw, Brennan, Rosario and Tyler Freeman had two hits.

“Momentum is really important,” Kwan said. “A bunch of guys got a bunch of hits. Our pitchers did what they needed to. Going into the off day with our heads up high is really important.”

Arizona’s Christian Walker hit a solo homer — his second long ball in two days — to cut the margin to 5-1. But the Guardians responded with six more runs in the fourth, punctuated by a two-run triple from Andrés Giménez.

Naylor’s younger brother, Bo, made his first start behind the plate since being called up from Triple-a. He was 0 for 4 with a run.

Davies (1-3) gave up nine runs over 3-2/3 innings. He surrendered nine hits, walked one and struck out two. The right-hander has a 7.11 ERA over seven starts.

“Rough day — I’m glad it’s over,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I was very pleased with how we’ve been playing baseball up until today. But from the first pitch of the game until the last one, we just didn’t have a rhythm. I don’t think Zach got into a good rhythm, there were some missed fastballs and he never got anything moving in the right direction.”