Steven Kwan and Bo Naylor each hit a solo home run and the Cleveland Guardians snapped their seven-game losing streak, holding off the Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Saturday evening in Minneapolis.
Josh Naylor finished 2-for-3 for Cleveland, which will try to earn a split of the four-game series on Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Guardians lead the Twins by 2 1/2 games in the American League Central race.
Matt Wallner drove in the lone run for the Twins, who were held to four hits. Willi Castro hit a double for Minnesota’s only extra-base hit.
Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (2-4) earned his second victory in his past three starts. He limited the Twins to one run on four hits in six innings, and he walked none and struck out three.
Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (3-3) drew the hard-luck loss, allowing two runs on four hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out seven.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his AL-leading 34th save. He struck out Wallner before retiring Byron Buxton and Max Kepler on back-to-back groundouts.
Kwan gave the Guardians a 1-0 lead on the second pitch of the game. He pulled a fastball 396 feet over the wall in right-center field for his 12th homer of the season.
After allowing Kwan’s homer, Woods Richardson retired the next 11 batters in a row before he gave up a single to Josh Naylor in the fourth.
Bo Naylor led off the sixth with a homer to increase Cleveland’s lead to 2-0. He jumped on a first-pitch fastball for a 386-foot blast to right field for his ninth homer.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth. Castro hit a leadoff double to right field, advanced to third on a groundout by Trevor Larnach and sprinted home to score on a groundout by Wallner.
Josh Winder pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Woods Richardson for the Twins, and Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis recorded one scoreless inning apiece for Cleveland before Clase closed the door in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
