Williams stops Guardians' skid with 11-K gem

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Guardians desperately needed a win on Thursday. From the moment Gavin Williams stepped on the mound, he made clear he was intent on making it happen.

Williams set the tone in his final start before the All-Star break, to lead the Guardians to a 5-2 win over the Twins at Target Field and help Cleveland avoid a three-game sweep. The big right-hander struck out 11 batters over seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits and one walk.

Thursday marked Williams’ fourth start this season with 10-plus strikeouts, which is the most by a Cleveland pitcher before the All-Star break since Shane Bieber had six such outings in 2021.

“When he gets the ball, you kind of go out there and expect him to do that every time,” Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter said. “It’s electric stuff. I'm glad I'm on the other side of it.”

With the win, the Guardians (48-46) snapped a season-high-tying four-game losing streak. They were in danger of falling to .500 for the first time since May 10 (when they were 21-21) after they entered the day with a 13-19 record since the start of June.

In some ways, Williams’ first half has mirrored the Guardians’ overall. He started the season off strong, but has had inconsistent results since the start of June. In his first 12 starts this season, Williams logged a 3.07 ERA in 76 1/3 innings. He entered Thursday with a 6.00 ERA in 30 innings over six starts since the start of June.

“I think it could have been a lot better,” Williams said of his first half. “I know I had a few bad games, a seven-run game [June 17 vs. Milwaukee], a six-run game [April 24 against Toronto]. I’ve got to cut those down a little bit, and it'd be a lot better than what it is.

“I definitely think I could do a lot better than what I've done.”

The down stretch has featured Williams not pitching as deep into games as he’d like. Entering Thursday, he had not completed six innings since May 27 against Washington, when he threw seven.

After the Guardians used seven of their eight relievers in Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to the Twins, Williams’ top priority was to give the bullpen a breather.

“They've saved me a lot of times in the past month,” Williams said. “I know I've been going short in outings. … That was my main thing today, just to help the ’pen.”

Williams was dominant from the get-go. He retired the first 13 hitters he faced, including eight on strikeouts. Royce Lewis ended Williams’ budding perfect-game bid with one out in the fifth. He dropped a single into shallow right field, just beyond the reach of second baseman Travis Bazzana.

Lewis was the first of four straight Minnesota batters to reach base, but Williams limited the damage to one run. Other than a Lewis solo home run in the seventh, the Twins got nothing going against him.

“That was exactly what we needed,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We couldn't have asked for anything more from Gavin today. It was seven innings of shutdown baseball.”

The Guardians provided Williams with their own supply of power. Gabriel Arias opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning. It went a Statcast-projected 442 feet and had a 110.8 mph exit velocity. Chase DeLauter added a solo home run in the sixth, Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run double in the seventh and Patrick Bailey hit a solo shot in the ninth.

The Guardians have had trouble hitting the ball over the fence this season. They entered Thursday tied for 26th in the Majors in home runs (87). In games that they’ve hit multiple, however, their record was 15-4.

The Guardians have played a lot of close games lately. In the absence of José Ramírez, it has felt like they’ve walked a tightrope nightly. Thursday wasn’t a blowout, but the Guardians at least had some breathing room.

Cleveland is hopeful of Ramírez returning at some point after the All-Star break. They’ve treaded water in his absence (9-13 record), and this weekend’s series against the Marlins is a chance to finish strong before a much-needed break.

“It's nice from our side to put some good swings on the ball and put up some runs,” DeLauter said. “That's something we've been missing a little bit. We're getting them in big innings, but not necessarily throughout the day.

“To do that and to carry that to Miami and to the break, hopefully we take a couple out there, and then roll into the break and come back fresh and ready to rock.”