All-Star Steven Kwan homered, went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and officially took over as the majors' leading hitter while sending the Cleveland Guardians to an 8-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Kwan connected for his eighth homer leading off the third inning against Justin Anderson as the AL Central-leading Guardians took two of three in the series and improved baseball's best home record to 28-10.
Although his average has been over .350 for most of the season - he recently flirted with .400 - Kwan didn't have enough at-bats to qualify for the MLB lead after missing a month with a hamstring injury.
He's now batting .367 - 48 points ahead of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who is second and played Thursday night. Kwan also has 12 three-hit games, the most in the AL.
Josh Naylor, Bo Naylor and Andrés Giménez drove in two runs apiece for Cleveland.
Ben Lively (8-4) limited the White Sox to three runs and six hits in six innings. The right-hander, whose signing as a free agent in December barely made a ripple, is 5-0 in six starts at Progressive Field.
He's the first Cleveland starter to win five consecutive home starts since Corey Kluber in 2016.
Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer and Lenyn Sosa a solo shot for the White Sox, who lost their ninth consecutive road series and fell to 25-64 -- 31 games behind Cleveland.
Kwan opened the third with a towering shot into the right-field seats. He hit just 11 homers combined in his first two seasons, but has focused on pulling inside pitches.
The Guardians tacked on three more runs in the third against Anderson as manager Pedro Grifol went with a bullpen game in the series finale.
Kwan, who has been in a bit of a slump lately (he came in 5 for 28 in his last seven games), singled in his first at-bat. The Guardians threatened to have a big first inning against Sox starter Jared Shuster (1-1) but only scored once on Josh Naylor's RBI single.
The White Sox head to Miami for a three-game series with RHP Drew Thorpe (2-1, 4.43 ERA) starting the opener. Hear this weekend's action on WHOW.
