Bo Naylor collected his first major league hit, and his brother Josh went nuts celebrating
CLEVELAND — Not many rookies get to experience their first career hit in the majors, look up to the scoreboard and see their brother with a massive smile on his face. And not many rookies have their older brother as the starting first baseman for the same team.
In his 20th at-bat in the major leagues, Bo Naylor came away with his first career hit, a single to left-center that was instrumental in the Guardians' comeback 7-6 win over the Oakland A's Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
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After Naylor rounded first base, his brother, Josh Naylor, was shown on the Progressive Field scoreboard smiling and cheering on his younger brother from the dugout.
"When I peeked up, I saw it a little bit. In that moment I felt really special because he's such an amazing brother," Bo said after the game. "He supports me so much and he's been one of the guys day in and day out that's just always building me up and really making me feel like a part of this group."
"He's been the first guy to make me feel welcome in this environment, and it showed in that moment as well. So it was also really a great moment to be able to embrace him after when I scored. So great."
The Naylor brothers were able to be in the same major league clubhouse late last season, when Bo was first promoted from the minor leagues. But that was a short-term cameo ahead of the run to the playoffs. Bo's recent promotion has a chance to be more permanent, with manager Terry Francona writing "Naylor" in the lineup twice most days.
Bo's first hit was another milestone for the brother duo.
"It was awesome, a very special moment not only for me, but my whole family, my other brother [Myles]," Josh said of Bo's first hit. "I can't even really describe how cool it was, but it was awesome to be a part of that."
Josh, who turned 26 Thursday, and Bo, 23, are roughly three years apart in age. So while both were talented players growing up, they weren't on the same teams. It took both working their way to the major leagues to make that happen.
Bo said he and Josh are aware how "crazy" the odds were that they'd meet up in the majors as they have with the Guardians, when they often will have both their names in the lineup.
"It's a different feeling. Once I kind of saw it the first time, it was pretty special," Bo said. "I definitely took a moment to think about where we'd arrived to, all the times we were grinding without people watching. And now we're at that point where, you know, like you just said, our names are on the same card. So it's super special."
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Bo added there was "no doubt" that a weight had been lifted off him to collect his first major-league hit after 19 at-bats without one. The last two nights, chants of "Let's Go, Bo" have broken out at Progressive Field.
"The support from fans, it's amazing and I love to be a part of it because there's truly a special group here and I'm just thankful they're embracing me because I'm here to just try to be an impact player and do whatever I can do to help [the] ball club win," Bo said. "So it definitely helps, and I love every time I hear it."
In that way, Bo has about as much support in the ballpark as possible from some chanting fans to his older brother Josh in the dugout. And during a win in which Josh had a four-hit game and a home run, and Bo collected his first hit and scored a key run, both brothers were smiling Wednesday night.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians Bo Naylor gets first hit, Josh Naylor celebrates in dugout
