Hustle doesn’t always show up in the box score, but it can blow a game wide open. Josh Naylor proved that last night.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, he raced down the line to avoid grounding into a double play with the bases loaded against the Washington Nationals.

As a result, Steven Kwan scored to give Cleveland an insurance run at 3-1. David Fry then launched a three-run home run to provide enough insurance for everyone in Progressive Field.

Cleveland won 7-1 to open the series and improve their home record to 19-6, the best in the major leagues. The Guardians have won eight games in a row at home.

Fry finished the month of May with a .383 batting average, a .513 on-base percentage, seven home runs and nine runs scored.

The only Cleveland hitters to have a month like that were Albert Belle (May 1994), Jim Thome (August 1996), and Manny Ramirez (September 1999). Thanks to @LukePotosky for that great stat!

KWAN IN A MILLION

Fans celebrated the return of Steven Kwan to the lineup from a hamstring injury. He went 3-for-4 to improve his batting average to .365.

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single from Tyler Freeman and a run-scoring groundout from Jose Ramirez, who had 32 RBI in May.

Eddie Rosario, who played for the 2021 Cleveland Indians, doubled in the top of the seventh to cut the Guardians’ lead to 2-1.

After Cleveland’s monster inning, Kwan drove in Brayan Rocchio with an infield single in the eighth.

Tanner Bibee (4-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run and striking out seven, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Emmanuel Clase shut down the Nationals the rest of the way, Clase struck out the side in the ninth.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT

Game 2 of the series will start at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday. Ben Lively will start against Washington lefty Mitchell Parker. Both pitchers have 4-2 records.