Cleveland Guardians rally to beat Kansas City Royals behind Gavin Williams' dominant start

Lane Thomas and Josh Naylor each homered, Gavin Williams tossed seven strong innings and the visiting Cleveland Guardians beat Kansas City 4-2 on Monday to hand the Royals their sixth straight loss.

Kansas City (75-64) was held to two hits in the opener of the three-game series and fell 4½ games behind American League Central-leading Cleveland (79-59).

Williams (3-7) allowed one run on one hit with two walks and six strikeouts. He retired the last 16 batters he faced.

Cade Smith allowed one run in the eighth before Emmanuel Clase retired the Royals in order in the ninth for his 41st save in 44 opportunities.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the second after Williams struck out the first two batters of the inning. Yuli Gurriel walked with two outs, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Maikel Garcia's double down the left field line.

Thomas put the Guardians ahead with a two-run homer against Michael Wacha (11-7) in the fifth. Jhonkensy Noel led off the inning with a single and scored on Thomas's ninth homer of the season and first since being acquired from the Washington Nationals on July 29.

Wacha allowed two runs on five hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out three.

Cleveland padded its lead in the sixth against Kris Bubic. Jose Ramirez hit a leadoff single and Naylor followed with his 29th homer, a 420-foot blast to center.

Naylor also doubled and is 11-for-21 (.524) with a homer and eight RBIs during his five-game hitting streak.

After Garcia's RBI double in the second, Kansas City did not have another baserunner until Gurriel doubled against Smith to begin the eighth.

Gurriel exited with right hamstring tightness and was replaced by Freddy Fermin, who moved to third on Garcia's lineout before scoring on Kyle Isbel's sacrifice fly.

Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. did not start at shortstop for the first time this season and instead went 0-for-3 with a walk as the team's designated hitter.

Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro missed the game due to a personal matter. Bench coach Paul Hoover filled in for the series opener.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lane Thomas, Josh Naylor hit home runs as Guardians beat Royals