Pitching continues to be a problem for the Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians entered the 2025 season with a somewhat small margin for error. Any buffer zone they expected was supposed to be driven by Cleveland's pitching staff. Through almost 30 games, that buffer zone has been pretty much non-existent, with what happened on Monday during Clevleand's 11-1 loss to Minnesota being just a small sample of their struggles on the mound.

Gavin Williams drew the start for Cleveland against Minnesota, and things did not go well. Williams was roughed by the Twins, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks, needing 61 pitches to get through just 2 innings of work. Not helping matters was that Williams only threw 37 of his pitches for strikes, most of which were fastballs, allowing Twins batters to sit on the heater and drive it once thrown. It was not a banner night for Williams, but he was not alone.

Tim Herrin and Cody Bolton pitched late in this one, with both experiencing plenty of difficulty navigating the Twins lineup. Herrin gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in only one third of an inning, while Bolton's three runs on four hits in 2 innings was technically a slight improvement but still not nearly remotely close to being considered acceptable.

The Guardians eventually turned to infielder Will Wilson for 2 innings of mop-up duty in a lopsided affair, something that has become an all too common occurrence as of late. The two runs allowed by Wison really did not matter all that much, considering the Guardians were down eight runs before he made his first major league appearance on the mound.

Under normal circumstances, it is far too early to worry about the overall performance of a pitching staff when the calendar still reads April. But since the Guardians have gotten so few good performances out of their pitching staff, and those that have occurred have, more often than not, been sandwiched by atrocious outings, it is truly time to be at least concerned here. Panic is a bit much at the moment, but you better believe it is not that far off if their pitching continues to struggle.