Right-hander Gavin Williams had 10 strikeouts, Gabriel Arias and Jose Ramirez hit home runs and the Cleveland Guardians finished off a challenging season-opening road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
Williams (1-1) gave up two hits over seven scoreless innings with three walks as the Guardians took two of three games against the two-time defending champion Dodgers. They also split a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners, who were one win away from the World Series last year.
It was Williams’ fifth career game with double-digit strikeouts.
Cleveland won two games by scoring nine runs the entire series. Guardians pitching held the Dodgers to seven runs over the three games.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1) gave up two runs on four hits over six innings as the Dodgers made history by becoming the first MLB team to start a Japanese-born pitcher in three consecutive games. Right-handers Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani started the first two games of the series.
Freddie Freeman hit a home run with two outs in the ninth inning for Los Angeles, his first, to spoil the Cleveland shutout bid.
While Ohtani pitched well Tuesday, he is off to a slow start at the plate. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts Wednesday after entering the game 3-for-15, with no extra-base hits. Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts are hitting under .200 for Los Angeles six games into the season.
The Guardians’ Daniel Schneemann doubled to lead off the third inning, stole third and scored when Dodgers catcher Will Smith threw the ball to left field on the steal attempt.
Cleveland made it 2-0 in the third when Arias hit a home run to center off Yamamoto. It was the Guardians’ first home run from somebody other than rookie Chase DeLauter, who hit four in the first three games at Seattle.
Ramirez’s first home run of the season was a two-run shot in the eighth against Tanner Scott.
DeLauter did not play Wednesday after he fouled a ball off his left foot in Tuesday’s game.
