CLEVELAND — Rookie Jhonkensy Noel singled home Josh Naylor with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals, reclaiming sole possession of first place in the AL Central on Wednesday.
The Guardians trailed 5-2 entering the seventh and scored four times to take their first lead of the game. Bo Naylor homered off starter Michael Wacha, while Josh Naylor, Will Brennan and Noel had RBI singles against Lucas Erceg (2-4).
Andrés Giménez tacked on a sacrifice fly in the eighth as Cleveland avoided a four-game sweep in the series with its MLB-leading 37th comeback win. The Guardians had been alone atop the division for 154 days until Kansas City pulled into a tie Tuesday.
“We haven’t looked like ourselves for a while, but that inning, that was us,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “It was such a great response by our guys. Erceg has been very good, but Will came up with a big swing and Big Christmas (Noel) again comes through.”
Kansas City had its seven-game road winning streak snapped and is 23-14 since the All-Star break. The Royals, who have clinched the season tiebreaker over the Guardians, host Cleveland for three games next week.
Erceg was charged with one run allowed, his first in 12 appearances and 13 1/3 innings since joining Kansas City in a July 30 trade with Oakland.
“Tough way for us to go out, but we came in here and did what we needed to do,” said Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who had a career-high four hits. “I think we have their respect and they have ours. It’s going to be a fun month.”
Eli Morgan (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the victory. Emmanuel Clase earned his AL-best 39th save — with his career-high 26th straight conversion — and matched Cody Allen’s franchise record with 149.
“The competitive nature Clase attacks the game with and the mentality he goes out with, it’s huge having him in the back end of a game,” Bo Naylor said. “The vibes today were electric, back to what we’ve known throughout this year. That was definitely a great step in the right direction.”
Bobby Witt Jr., Pasquantino and Michael Massey hit solo homers off Guardians ace Tanner Bibee, who gave up five runs in five innings. Witt went 2 for 5 and continues to lead baseball with a .346 batting average, 185 hits and 114 runs.
Wacha was denied his 100th career win, pitching six-plus innings and allowing five runs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: SS Bobby Witt Jr. (right middle finger bruise) has started all 134 games in the second spot in the batting order. The AL MVP candidate was hit by a pitch from Pedro Avila in the seventh inning Tuesday.
Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (right fingernail tear) played catch at Progressive Field, one day after throwing three innings of live batting practice. The 36-year-old starter is eligible to be activated on Aug. 31.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Brady Singer (9-9, 3.38 ERA) starts the opener of a four-game series at AL West-leading Houston on Thursday.
Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (11-8, 3.62 ERA) pitches the first game of a three-game home series against Pittsburgh on Friday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
