Gavin Williams helps Guardians shut down Twins

Gavin Williams allowed one run and two hits over six innings to help the visiting Cleveland Guardians to a 5-1 win against the Minnesota Twins in the final game of their rain-shortened two-game series in Minneapolis.

Williams (4-2) struck out six and walked two.

The Twins won the series opener, 6-5, earlier in the day. The game was resumed in the fourth inning after rain washed out the final six innings on Monday and prevented the game from being completed on Tuesday as well.

In Game 2, Carlos Santana homered for the second straight game and scored twice, and Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez each had three hits and a run scored for the Guardians, who ended a five-game losing streak.

Twins starter Chris Paddack (2-4) was trying to win his third straight start, but he allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking two.

The Twins had won 14 of their past 15 games but managed just three hits.

Willi Castro walked to lead off the second for the Twins and was on second base with two outs when leadoff hitter Ryan Jeffers singled him home for a 1-0 lead.

Ramirez lined a single to right to lead off the sixth before Paddack issued back-to-back one-out walks to Santana and Daniel Schneemann, ending his day.

Louis Varland entered and he walked Gabriel Arias to force in a run and tie the score 1-1. Nolan Jones then lifted a sacrifice fly to center on a 2-0 pitch to give the Guardians a 2-1 lead.

Santana blasted a home run into the right-field seats with one out in the eighth to extend the lead to 3-1.

Jhonkensy Noel led off the ninth with a pinch-hit single up the middle for Cleveland and later came home on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-1. Ramirez then knocked in another run with a single up the middle to make it 5-1.

Tim Herrin pitched a scoreless seventh for the Guardians, Hunter Gaddis did the same in the eighth and Emmanuel Clase closed out the ninth.

--Field Level Media