Bo Naylor, Guardians fend off Royals for series split

Field Level Media|published: Thu 7th May, 17:37 2026

May 3, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor (23) looks down as he is pitch ran for during the ninth inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images

Bo Naylor hit a three-run home run and the Cleveland Guardians held on for an 8-5 win over the host Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Kyle Manzardo drove in two for the Guardians, who have won the last two to split the four-game series.

Bobby Witt Jr. was 4-for-4 with a walk as he and Vinnie Pasquantino homered for the Royals.

Lane Thomas' sacrifice fly in the eighth pulled Kansas City to within 8-5. But Cleveland's Cade Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save.

Slade Cecconi (2-4) allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and walking three. He struck out three.

Seth Lugo (1-2) allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings with four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 102 pitches.

Cleveland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first as five of the first six batters had hits. Manzardo's first-pitch double into the right-center-field gap brought in the first two and Daniel Schneemann followed with an RBI single.

The Royals loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first but Cecconi got Jac Caglianone on a groundout.

Petey Halpin's two-out, run-scoring single in the third put Cleveland up 4-0.

Maikel Garcia put Kansas City on the board in the fifth with an RBI single. Witt followed with an infield single on which second baseman Travis Bazzana had to dive towards first to keep on the infield. Garcia tried to go from first to third, but Bazzana threw him out.

The Guardians scored in the sixth on Royals catcher Carter Jensen's passed ball for a 5-1 lead.

Nick Loftin's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth pulled Kansas City within 5-2. It loaded the bases again with two outs but reliever Connor Brogdon got Garcia to fly out.

Naylor's three-run homer off Eric Cerantola in the seventh made it 8-2. It was Naylor's second home run of the year.

Witt and Pasquantino hit back-to-back home runs leading off the bottom of the seventh off Brogdon for an 8-4 count. It was Witt's fourth and Pasquantino's fifth.

--Field Level Media

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