Baltimore bashes Gavin Williams, Guardians to earn split of big four-game AL series

CLEVELAND — Gavin Williams never gave the Guardians a chance Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field. The right-hander allowed six runs over the first four innings, including two home runs in the fourth, as Baltimore earned a split of a four-game series between two of the top teams in the American League with a 9-5 win. Cleveland battled back to pull within a run on Josh Naylor's three-run homer in the fifth, but the Orioles tacked on against the Guardians' bullpen to secure the victory. "We've had two fun series with them. I feel like we're very evenly matched," said manager Stephen Vogt, whose team took two of three from the Orioles in Baltimore on June 24-26. "It's fun playing against the best teams in the league because you measure yourself. We were right there with them the whole series." The Guardians took the first two games, outscoring the Orioles 18-7, but Baltimore held a 16-9 edge in the final two. Williams allowed a run in the first and two in the third before Baltimore took charge with homers from Gunnar Henderson and No. 9 hitter Jackson Holliday to go up 6-2 through four. He failed to reach five innings for the third time in seven starts this season. "I gotta make better pitches," said Williams, who became the first Cleveland starter to reach 100 mph on a pitch since Danny Salazar in 2015. "I made some good ones, I made some bad ones. It was definitely bad placement, both of (the homers)." "They're good," Williams said of the Orioles. "You make a bad pitch they're going to hit it. I mean, even the good pitches you make, they're gonna put the bat on the ball." "It was an interesting out from Gavin," Vogt said. "I thought at times he looked really good, had some of his good stuff, and then at times kind of lost the command, kind of left some pitches over the middle. It was just a really kind of up-and-down outing from Gavin overall. They got his pitch count up and we had to move on." The Guardians' offense started slowly, going hitless against Baltimore ace Corbin Burnes over the first two innings before manufacturing a pair of runs to match the Orioles' output in the third and make it 3-2. Steven Kwan started things with a one-out single in the fourth, stealing second and moving to third on Jose Ramirez's two-out infield hit. Naylor followed with a drive to center an estimated 420 feet into the bullpen seats in center field to make it 6-5. Naylor flipped his bat in the direction of Baltimore's dugout as he made his way to first. "We don't quit," Vogt said. "We were facing one of the better pitchers in the game and we were able to put up five runs on him. Chasing him out after five (innings), you feel pretty good about your chances to win. "We just weren't able to hold them off. That's a really good offense over there. You've gotta give them a lot of credit for what they did today and yesterday. We didn't play our best but tip your cap. That's a really good team over there." Right-handed pitcher Connor Gillispie made his MLB debut after being called up from Triple-A Columbus prior to the game. He allowed a run on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts over three innings, finishing the game for Cleveland. "Anytime you see somebody make their debut, we love it," Vogt said. "And I thought Connor gave us three really good innings that we needed in the bullpen. And I like his stuff, and he attacked, threw strikes. It was really fun to watch." "It's a big step," Gillispie said of his first big league appearance. "I've been waiting on it a long time and working real hard and I'm glad it finally happened, and I hope to be back soon. It felt good after I threw the first couple pitches, I felt like I belonged. I felt like it was just another game and I feel like that says a lot about just the work I put in." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.