CLEVELAND (AP) — Gavin Williams settled down after a choppy start and pitched seven solid innings as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Wednesday to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
Williams (8-3) allowed one run and only three hits — all in the first three innings. The right-hander needed 24 pitches to get out of the first and then threw just 19 combined from the fourth through the sixth. He retired his final 13 batters.
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Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez watches his RBI sacrifice fly as Washington Nationals' Drew Millas looks away during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Chase DeLauter catches a fly ball by Washington Nationals' Jacob Young during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Austin Hedges is safe at home plate on a sacrifice fly by Jose Ramirez as Washington Nationals' Drew Millas waits for the throw during the fifth inning a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Travis Bazzana watches his sacrifice fly off Washington Nationals relief pitcher Orlando Ribalta during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams delivers against the Washington Nationals during a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Tim Herrin worked the eighth and Cade Smith gave up a run in the ninth before striking out two with the tying run at second for his MLB-leading 19th save.
Rookie Travis Bazzana had two doubles and José Ramírez drove in a run for Cleveland, which was outscored 16-5 in the first two games.
Washington's James Wood went 8 for 12 in the series with two homers, three RBIs and five runs.
Unable to score more than three runs in any of their last seven games, the Guardians finally strung hits together in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. They got some help as Nationals third baseman Curtis Mead couldn't handle Austin Hedges' hard-hit leadoff grounder for an error.
Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly off Miles Mikolas (1-4) and rookie Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez delivered RBI singles off Richard Lovelady.
Wood came in on a two-day tear against the Guardians and opened the third with a double. He advanced on a groundout and scored when CJ Abrams ripped a double into the right-field corner.
Nationals: Finally getting an off day after 16 games in 16 days, Washington opens a three-game series at home Friday against San Diego. The pitching matchups are to be determined.
Guardians: RHP Slade Cecconi (3-5, 5.18 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against Boston on Friday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez watches his RBI sacrifice fly as Washington Nationals' Drew Millas looks away during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Chase DeLauter catches a fly ball by Washington Nationals' Jacob Young during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Austin Hedges is safe at home plate on a sacrifice fly by Jose Ramirez as Washington Nationals' Drew Millas waits for the throw during the fifth inning a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Travis Bazzana watches his sacrifice fly off Washington Nationals relief pitcher Orlando Ribalta during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams delivers against the Washington Nationals during a baseball game, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States, an administration official said Wednesday.
The quarantine and treatment center being set up by the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services will be designed for Ebola patients who need to get out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and receive care quickly, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to share the Republican administration’s plans. The person said the plan would help patients avoid an hourslong medical evacuation to the U.S.
It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.
The official said the facility will be able to care for the full spectrum of Ebola, a rare but severe disease that is often fatal in people. But the official said people may be transported elsewhere for more advanced care as appropriate.
Kenya’s health minister confirmed officials there were talking with the U.S. about “preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola” but didn’t address whether the country would establish a treatment facility for Americans.
“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” Health Minister Aden Duale said in a statement.
For decades, medical experts have suggested moving patients suffering from Ebola and similar illnesses as little as possible in case their condition worsens, said Dr. Ali Khan, the public health college dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. But, he added, the quality of care must be equivalent to what someone would receive in American facilities.
“You’ve got to make sure the patient gets the best quality care, and you need to ensure excellent infection control,” said Khan, who earlier in his career led international responses to Ebola and other outbreaks for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Craig Spencer, a public health professor and emergency medicine doctor at Brown University who survived Ebola in 2014, said he doesn’t expect the facility in Kenya to provide the same quality of care that dedicated facilities in the United States do. He said refusing to consider bringing American Ebola patients home for treatment is “a moral abdication of what this country owes its own.”
During a massive Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014 and 2015, more than a half dozen infected Americans were brought back to the United States. That experience prompted the establishment of a U.S. network of quarantine and isolation facilities across the country.
But during that earlier outbreak, Trump, then a businessman and reality TV star, repeatedly criticized then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for bringing infected Americans home for care.
“The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great — but must suffer the consequences!” he wrote in a 2014 tweet.
He also suggested a plan similar to the one described to the AP by the administration official: “Treat them, at the highest level, over there,” Trump wrote in July 2014.
During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department and other agencies were working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” he said.
Earlier this month, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for Ebola and was sent to Germany for medical care. Serge, a Christian missionary organization, identified him as Dr. Peter Stafford. Stafford’s wife and four children did not have symptoms but also were flown to Germany and placed in isolation at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.
On Wednesday, the hospital said the patient was in stable condition.
“The viral load measured in the patient has dropped very, very rapidly over the course of the week," likely thanks to antiviral therapy, Dr. Leif Erik Sander, director of the hospital’s infectious diseases department, told reporters.
Another American medical missionary, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, was transported to the Czech Republic for isolation after he was exposed to Ebola, though he did not have any symptoms, according to the missionary organization.
Health authorities in Congo have been struggling to contain the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has said is outpacing them.
The number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed and it's looking into more than 3,000 possible contacts.
Challenges include the threat of armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the Trump administration's plan for the Kenya facility.
Meanwhile, officials have been expanding the number of U.S. airports where CDC staffers are screening and monitoring incoming passengers from outbreak countries. Enhanced screenings began last week at Washington Dulles International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. CDC staff began screenings at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston this week, and are being dispatched to start screenings Friday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The CDC’s acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, sent an email Monday to CDC employees asking for volunteers from across the agency to work the screening stations. CDC veterans say it’s not unusual to see a call for volunteers for staffing major epidemic responses.
The government also has temporarily banned the entry of people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card holders, who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.
AP journalists Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Julie Walker in New York and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump, next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Workers load World Health Organization (WHO) emergency supplies onto a United Nations plane in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, headed for Congo to combat the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
