Guardians 5, Twins 1: Carlos Santana Revenge Game

Guardians win for the first time this now 9 game trip

Gavin Williams performed well in a big spot, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan each collected three hits, Carlos Santana hit his second homer of the day against his 2024 team, and the bullpen was elite in shutting down the Twins and salvaging an early week washout in Minnesota.

Williams had one rough inning where he threw 32 pitches and allowed a run in the third, but he dominated the Twins in his other five frames, striking out six. It was good to see Tim Herrin have a shutout inning and Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase do their usual for the 8th and the 9th. Now, if we could just find a way to swap Franco Aleman for Jakob Junis... surely Junis's shoulder is feeling a little tender...

Gabriel Arias took a walk (!) with the bases loaded to drive in the first run and then Nolan Jones got a sacrifice fly to drive in the second. Jones looks like he's SLOWLY climbing out of a terrible slump. Carlos Santana tormented his exes and reminded all that he loves US the most:

Jose extended his hitting streak to 14 games and got an RBI single in the 9th as part of a little flurry of insurance runs there. Kwan seems to have emerged from a mini-slump, hopefully just in time for the team to play two of the better teams in baseball starting in Detroit tomorrow and then on Monday against the Dodgers in Cleveland.

It FELT very important to win this game. It also feels very important to find a way to get a split against a very, very good Tigers team... if the Guardians want to keep a division title in sight heading into the summer. Thank goodness for Santana owning the Twins and for Williams finally finding some consistent command. Makes it a little easier to sleep tonight.