Williams outpitches Yamamoto as Guardians take series from Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gavin Williams struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings, outpitching World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and José Ramírez hit his first home run of the season to lead the Cleveland Guardians past the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 on Wednesday.

Gabriel Arias also went deep for the Guardians, who took two of three games in the series from the two-time defending champions.

Williams (1-1) walked three and allowed only two hits, both singles by Andy Pages. Freddie Freeman homered off Cade Smith with two outs in the ninth, spoiling Cleveland's shutout bid.

Williams overpowered the Dodgers from the outset and faced just one batter more than the minimum through five innings. He ran into his only trouble in the sixth when Pages led off with a single and Alex Freeland worked a walk to bring Shohei Ohtani to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander induced a grounder from Ohtani on the first pitch for a 4-6-3 double play and got Kyle Tucker to fly out to end the inning.

Williams completed his night with a perfect seventh, punctuated by striking out Will Smith swinging on an elevated 96-mph fastball.

Ohtani also struck out against left-hander Erik Sabrowski with runners at second and third to end the eighth. Ohtani went 0-for-3 with a walk at the plate, extending his on-base streak to a career-best 37 games since last August.

Yamamoto (1-1) pitched six innings, allowing four hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out two.

The loss dampened a historic night for the Dodgers, who became the first team to start a Japanese-born pitcher in three consecutive games. Roki Sasaki took the ball in the series opener and Ohtani won the middle game.

Up next

LHP Joey Cantillo (0-0) starts Cleveland's home opener Friday against the Chicago Cubs.

Dodgers RHP Emmet Sheehan (0-0) starts the opener of a three-series at Washington on Friday.