Naylor helps Guardians sweep A's

CLEVELAND >> Josh Naylor delivered a clutch, threerun double in the seventh inning as the Guardians continued their best start in 25 years with a 6-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

With the Guardians up 3-2, Naylor, who celebrated a two-run homer on Saturday by bashing the top of his helmet with his bat before rounding the bases, fell behind 0-2 in the count before doubling with the bases loaded off left-hander T.J. McFarland.

Naylor is batting .406 (13 of 32) with 14 RBIs in nine home games.

“He's something else right now,” said Guardians

first-year manager Stephen Vogt.

The surprising Guardians have won four straight, seven of eight and improved the AL's best record to 16-6. This is the club's best start since Cleveland had the same mark through 22 games in 1999.

Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee (2-0) allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. The righthander gave up a two-out RBI single in the sixth before Vogt dipped into his bullpen, which came in with a 2.19 ERA.

Tim Herrin, Nick Sandlin, Cade Smith and closer Emmanuel Clase held the A's scoreless over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Will Brennan homered for the Guardians, who finished off the A's while

All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez got a day off.

Oakland has lost seven straight games in Cleveland and the A's have gone 3-17 against the Guardians in the past three years.

The way the Guardians are playing right now, there's little margin for error. A's manager Mark Kotsay bemoaned chances his team missed.

“That's what really good teams do,” he said. “They capitalize on mistakes. From a hitting standpoint, you make mistakes and they end up taking advantage of it. They put the ball in play. They don't strike out a ton. And that's where we really battled today with getting ahead of guys and just not being able to finish.”