Gavin Williams allowed just one hit in 6 2/3 innings and Jose Ramirez hit a home run for the second straight game to lift the host Cleveland Guardians to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Willams (5-3) pitched into the seventh inning for the third time this season. He allowed two unearned runs, walked two and fanned six while throwing 103 pitches. Angels leadoff man Zach Neto had the only hit off Williams when he singled with two outs in the fifth.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 13th save in 15 attempts.
Ramirez hit his 11th home run in the fourth inning to give the Guardians a 2-0 lead. The third baseman has reached base in 29 straight games and has registered at least one hit in 24 of his last 25 games.
Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana extended his hitting streak to 11 with a seventh-inning single.
Williams ran into trouble in the seventh when Logan O’Hoppe reached on an error when he hit a shot to short that ripped a hole in Gabriel Arias’ glove. Williams then hit Jo Adell with a pitch to put two runners on.
Hunter Gaddis replaced Williams and immediately gave up a single to Luis Rengifo to make it 4-1. Mike Trout drove in Adell with a pinch-hit single to cut the lead to two.
The rally stalled, however, when Yoan Moncada took too long getting to the plate to pinch-hit for Scott Kingery. Moncada was issued an automatic strike for the delay and Gaddis threw two strikes by him to end the threat.
The Guardians opened the scoring in the third when Arias led off with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. Arias moved to third on a Nolan Jones single and scored on a Steven Kwan single.
Ramirez’ blast made it 2-0 to lead off the fourth, but Cleveland was not done yet.
Kyle Manzardo followed Ramirez with a single. After a pair of strikeouts, Bo Naylor drew a walk and Arias was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Jones made Angels’ starter Jack Kochanowicz pay with a single to center that scored Manzardo and Arias for a four-run Cleveland lead.
Kochanowicz (3-7) gave up four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings with five hits and three walks on 84 pitches. The right-hander struck four.
–Field Level Media
