MINNEAPOLIS -- Gavin Williams might be from North Carolina, but he seems to do just fine in weather not typically found in the Tarheel State.
Williams continued his strong month on Wednesday by holding the Twins to one run on two hits while walking two and fanning six over six innings as the Guardians earned a split by beating the Twins 5-1 at Target Field.
It was a rainy, miserable start to the week in Minneapolis, and the weather from the start challenged the series. After three innings and two rain delays, Monday’s series opener was finally suspended. And no baseball was played on Tuesday.
So the teams played the final six innings of the first game and another full nine innings on Wednesday. The Twins won the first game 6-5 on a ninth-inning RBI double by Kody Clemens after the Guardians had rallied for three runs to tie it in the top of the ninth.
The playing conditions on Wednesday were less than ideal -- a steady drizzle and temperatures in the mid-40s. But Williams was unfazed by the weather and the Twins, who recently won 13 straight games to get them back into the AL Central race.
“That was a tough day for both sides,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “The field was slippery. The grounds crew did a great job keeping it playable, but for our guys to battle through that? Gavin pitched absolutely outstanding. ... He was super efficient. Got us through six so we could hand it over to the bullpen.”
That type of outing has been the norm for Williams of late. In four May starts -- no-decisions at Toronto and against the Brewers, bookending a home win over the Phillies -- Williams has allowed five earned runs over 20 innings (2.25 ERA). The underlying numbers are a bit of a mixed bag – 12 walks but only 17 hits allowed and 29 strikeouts. But they illustrate a pitcher giving the Guardians exactly what they’re looking for in a starting pitcher, hoping to establish himself as a go-to rotation piece.
“Especially coming off last year, I’m trying to do as much as possible, go as deep as I can in games,” said Williams, referencing his 3-10 record over 16 starts in 2024. “As much as I can do that, it’s going to help out the bullpen.”
As is often the case, Williams did some of his best work with his four-seam fastball, which he used to freeze Game 1 hero Clemens twice for strike three. But he mixed in 46 offspeed pitches to keep the Twins guessing.
“Throwing the fastball in all quadrants of the zone definitely helped out. Just having all the offspeed pitches playing today opened up literally everything,” Williams said.
Williams got plenty of help from the bullpen and his defense to nail down the victory. Lefty Tim Herrin faced just three batters in the seventh, thanks partly to catcher Austin Hedges, who threw out Harrison Bader attempting to steal after he’d drawn a walk.
Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the win, which snapped a five-game losing streak as the Guardians head to Detroit for a showdown with the first-place Tigers.
More pitching performances like the one they got from Williams on Wednesday will give the Guardians a real boost the rest of the way. But the secret of his success? Keeping it simple.
“Just attacking the zone, really,” Williams said of his strategy. “Them swinging. They swung at about literally anything today, I felt like. So just attacking the zone and throwing strikes helped out a lot.”