​Gavin Williams matched a season high with 11 strikeouts as the Cleveland Guardians rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis. Williams (10-4) limited the Twins to two runs on three hits over seven innings, snapping a five-start winless skid. His career best for strikeouts in a single game is 12, a mark he reached during his rookie season in 2023 and then matched last year.
Cleveland’s offense produced three solo homers and three doubles, contributing six hits in the win. Gabriel Arias opened the scoring with a homer in the second inning, followed by rookie Chase DeLauter’s go-ahead blast in the sixth. Patrick Bailey added a solo shot in the ninth. Brayan Rocchio also contributed with a two-run double, driving in two runs with two outs in the seventh to help break a four-game Guardians skid and salvage the finale of a three-game series.
The Twins got on the board when Royce Lewis scored on Tristan Gray’s RBI single in the fifth and later led off the seventh with a home run, but they managed little else against Williams as their four-game winning streak came to an end.
In relief, Hunter Gaddis retired the side in order in the eighth, and Cade Smith struck out two in the ninth to record his majors-leading 27th save of the season.
Cleveland built a 2-1 lead when DeLauter ripped a 2-1 fastball from Kendry Rojas over the wall in right field for his ninth homer of the season and a recent baptism of success, his second long ball in his last four games. Rojas walked two in the seventh before Rocchio’s timely double down the left-field line, which caromed off the side wall to clear the bases and plate two runs. Rojas gave up three runs on two hits with three walks in two innings of work after relieving Bailey Ober, who allowed one run on three hits in five innings after being activated from the 15-day injured list earlier Thursday due to right elbow inflammation.
Arias also contributed with a first-pitch slider from Ober that he drove over the center-field wall to start the scoring, igniting Cleveland’s offensive outburst. The Guardians’ offense, featuring three home runs and three doubles, supplied the bulk of the production in a game that highlighted Williams’s breakout performance on the mound. The win moved Cleveland closer to even in the season series and left Minnesota searching for consistency as they tried to stretch a recent streak.