CLEVELAND — If Josh Naylor is yelling at the Guardians dugout , good things are probably happening.
It tends to be what happens after one of Naylor's bigger home runs, or one that comes in a bigger moment. That was the case Wednesday night, as another of Naylor's prodigious shots went sailing into the Cleveland night and over the right-field wall — two of them, actually.
Naylor twice hit score-tying home runs in the Guardians' 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in extra innings. They were both no-doubters. The ball had barely left Naylor's bat on his second home run of the night, in the seventh inning, when he turned toward the Guardians dugout, yelled, and threw his bat.
Naylor said afterward he felt he probably shouldn't have shown quite that much emotion, and he had calmed down by the time he reached home plate. But his teammates love it every time — including the time he head-butted former Guardians manager Terry Francona after a walk-off hit .
"Josh is our guy, that's our heart and soul," said Will Brennan , who came through with a key hit in the 10th inning to set up the win. "He goes into demon mode like that, you've got to just let him do his thing."
After never hitting more than 20 home runs in a single season entering 2024, Naylor has 31 this year. It gives the Guardians two hitters, along with Jose Ramirez , who have reached the 30-homer, 100-RBIs plateaus. Naylor and Ramirez are the 10th set of teammates in Cleveland history to reach those figures in the same season and the first since Ramirez accomplished the feat with Edwin Encarnacion in 2018.
For a Guardians lineup that entered the year searching for more power, Ramirez and Naylor led the way.
"What a cool accolade for him," said manager Stephen Vogt . "It's a huge milestone for players. It's something special to have two guys in our lineup with 30 and 100."
Naylor said he doesn't care too much about the numbers or the milestones.
"Team wins mean more to me," Naylor said. "Just the production we have as a unit, that's more important to me, and to get into the postseason."
His 30/100 season, though, is a major reason why the Guardians left Wednesday's win on the doorstop of getting back to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus. That emotion is a big part of it, too.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians Josh Naylor has 30 home runs, 100 RBIs in 2024
