Gaddis, bullpen come up clutch after Williams' injury

MINNEAPOLIS -- Guardians right-hander Hunter Gaddis didn’t have much time to prepare to pitch. He threw a weighted ball a couple times and then tried to use the run from the bullpen to the mound at Target Field to get his heart rate up.

The quick preparation worked out and on the same day that he was recalled from Triple-A Columbus, Gaddis came through with an important three innings in relief after Gavin Williams left after one inning due to right knee soreness.

Sam Hentges, Trevor Stephan, Nick Sandlin and Emmanuel Clase followed Gaddis’ lead and Cleveland earned a much-needed 4-2 win against the Twins on Tuesday night.

“It’s crucial,” catcher Bo Naylor said of Gaddis’ three steady innings. “In those type of moments, there’s a tone that needs to be set when the starter comes out, and I think he did a really good job. [He] came out throwing strikes, everything was working well, so props to him for his performance today.”

The Guardians picked up a game in the American League Central standings, now trailing first-place Minnesota by six games. With the win, Cleveland now holds the tiebreaker between the two teams, as it leads the season series, 5-4, with four games remaining this season.

Gaddis (2-1) earned the win in his return to the Major Leagues, allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts.

“It is a long run, so that helped,” Gaddis joked about his warmup. “I think just because it happened so quick, I had no option but to lock in.”

On his first pitch to Jorge Polanco -- the second batter of the bottom of the first, Williams' knee buckled leading to a wild pitch. Williams, the team’s top pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline entering this season, finished the inning with 30 pitches (15 for strikes).

Manager Terry Francona decided to pull the rookie right-hander rather than let Williams try to pitch through any pain.

“In good conscience, I couldn’t let him go back out there,” Francona said. “I wanted to. We’re up against [Williams' career high] as far as innings, but I would have had a really hard time. Every time he threw a pitch, I would have been holding my breath.”

Williams said he wasn’t concerned about the injury. The team has already notified doctors and Williams will be re-evaluated on Wednesday.

“Yeah, [my knee] buckled a little bit, caught a spike and just fell down,” Williams said.

Enter the newly-recalled Gaddis. The lone run for the Twins against Gaddis was a solo homer by Royce Lewis.

Hentges pitched two scoreless innings before Stephan and Sandlin each handled a no-hit inning, and Clase pitched the ninth for his 35th save.

“Everybody was picking each other up,” Gaddis said.

Steven Kwan had three hits and Naylor homered for the second straight game. Naylor, the rookie catcher, has homered in each of his last three starts, becoming the youngest Cleveland player to do so since Manny Ramirez in 1995.

“Just kind of going into the game with a solid approach and making sure I’m doing everything I can to stick to it,” Naylor said of his recent success. “Accepting that it might not always go my way but the more consistent I can stay in that plan, the better off I’ll be in the long run.”

Cleveland bounced back after losing, 10-6, to the Twins on Monday night and kept itself in the AL Central race.

“From what I’ve noticed, there’s no quit in any of these guys,” Gaddis said. “It’s fun to be around. It doesn’t matter what happened the night before, just show up the next day.”