Steven Kwan’s Power Anchors Career First In Guardians’ Victory Over Blue Jays

According to Stathead, the Cleveland left fielder has homered in consecutive games for the first time in his MLB career with another solo shot on Sunday.

Jun 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan (38) singles in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians completed a three-game sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-5 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Cleveland hit two home runs in the game, the first of which came from Steven Kwan.

The Guardians left fielder led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a 376-foot solo shot to right center field, which extended Cleveland’s lead to 5-3. While this swing of the bat added to the Guardians’ lead, it also secured an offensive career first for the two-time American League Gold Glove Award winner.

According to Stathead, Kwan has now homered in consecutive games for the first time in his MLB career. The 26-year-old also hit a solo home run against the Blue Jays this past Saturday. 

Entering play on Sunday, he had also not hit a home run in consecutive games in 224 combined regular-season and postseason contests, nor in 156 collegiate games at Oregon State.

Jun 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan (38) singles in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Kwan has experienced a power emergence so far this season for the Guardians. His seven home runs in just 49 games are already an MLB career-high, well outpacing his five homers in 158 contests last year and six long balls in 147 games in 2022. 

Additionally, he would lead MLB with a .390 batting average and .448 on-base percentage, while also ranking top-10 with a 1.023 OPS (third) and .575 slugging percentage (sixth). However, after missing nearly a month with a left hamstring strain earlier this season, he is just shy of MLB’s plate appearances mark for qualified players.

At the moment, Kwan’s 1.023 OPS would rank behind only New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (1.109) and Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (1.030). His batting average would also be 69 points ahead of Ohtani’s .321 mark.