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