ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — The Cleveland Guardians, powered by a resilient offense and a strong start from Gavin Williams, snapped the St. Louis Cardinals’ brief momentum with a 9-3 victory on Monday night at Busch Stadium.

The game, played before an announced crowd of 17,901 in 2 hours and 57 minutes, saw the Guardians improve to 10-7 while the Cardinals fell back to .500 at 8-8.

Cleveland set the tone immediately against Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore. After a quick first out, right fielder Angel Martínez launched Liberatore’s second pitch of the evening deep over the left field wall for a solo home run, his second of the season, giving the Guardians a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis answered promptly in the bottom half against Williams. JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera opened the inning with sharp singles, and Alec Burleson followed with an RBI single through the right side to tie the game. Williams, however, limited the damage, stranding the bases loaded by striking out Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman before getting Nathan Church to fly out.

The game remained deadlocked until the fourth inning, when Cleveland’s patience at the plate paid off. Liberatore walked José Ramírez and Rhys Hoskins to start the frame. David Fry then loaded the bases with a single. Daniel Schneemann delivered the key blow, a two-run single through the right side that scored Ramírez and Hoskins. Austin Hedges later added a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-1.

Williams settled in after the rocky first, navigating through five innings. He allowed two earned runs on five hits, walking two and striking out four to earn his second win of the season against one loss. The right-hander has now allowed just three earned runs over 17.2 innings in his last three starts, striking out 22.

Cleveland broke the game open in the sixth against reliever Gordon Graceffo. With two outs and a runner on via a walk, shortstop Brayan Rocchio connected for a two-run homer to left field, his second of the year, extending the Guardians’ advantage to 6-1.

The Cardinals chipped back in the bottom of the inning when Walker led off with a towering solo home run to left-center, his eighth of the young season. St. Louis threatened for more, putting two runners on, but the Guardians’ bullpen, beginning with Tim Herrin, escaped further trouble.

The Guardians put the game out of reach with a three-run eighth, capitalizing on a critical Cardinals error. After a walk and a single, Rocchio again played a central role, hitting a soft grounder back to pitcher Ryan Fernandez. Fernandez’s throwing error to first allowed one run to score. Steven Kwan then lined a two-run single to left, scoring both Rocchio and Juan Brito to make it 9-2.

St. Louis scored a final run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Pedro Pagés, but Erik Sabrowski and Cade Smith closed the door with scoreless relief work to seal the Cleveland victory.

Liberatore took the loss for St. Louis, his first of the season, after surrendering four earned runs on six hits over five innings. Graceffo provided 1.1 scoreless innings of relief in a bright spot for the Cardinals’ bullpen.

Offensively, Rocchio was the standout for Cleveland, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. Martínez added two hits, including his first-inning homer. For St. Louis, Walker’s solo shot led the nine-hit attack, with Burleson contributing two hits and an RBI.

The most important sequence of the game occurred in the top of the fourth inning. With the score tied 1-1, Liberatore lost his command, issuing back-to-back walks to start the inning. This set the stage for Schneemann’s timely, two-run single that gave Cleveland a lead it would not relinquish. The inning shifted momentum permanently to the Guardians, who methodically built upon that advantage, while the Cardinals’ offense struggled to string together rallies against Williams and a quartet of Cleveland relievers.

The victory defied the pregame projections from Interstat, which had simulated a narrow 6-5 Cleveland win and gave the Guardians a 54.7% probability of victory. The combined 12 runs went well over the posted over/under line of 8.5.

The two teams will continue their three-game series on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.