Another round of double-digit K's? Williams making whiffs look routine
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CLEVELAND -- The most resistance Guardians starter Gavin Williams faced on Sunday was a one-hour, 34-minute rain delay that prematurely ended his outing against the D-backs. Before that, he was nearly perfect.
Lately, the big right-hander has been clinical.
“He's been dialed in,” Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey said. “He's been getting better and better over this last month. It's so much fun back there catching him.”
Williams struck out 10 batters over 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Sunday to lead the Guardians to a 5-0 win over the D-backs at Progressive Field. He allowed just one hit and one walk and threw 89 pitches (60 strikes), carrying a perfect-game bid into the sixth inning. D-backs center fielder Tim Tawa snapped it with a leadoff single.
Sunday marked the fifth consecutive start in which Williams has struck out 10-plus batters and allowed one or fewer walks. That’s tied for the second-longest streak in the Majors since at least 1900 with Chris Sale (2018). It trails only Clayton Kershaw’s six-start streak in ‘16.
Williams has struck out 55 batters and walked just three over his past five starts, which is the most by a Cleveland pitcher over a five-start span since Shane Bieber (57) from April 7-30, 2021.
“He’s coming out, giving us a chance to win every time, filling up the strike zone, attacking guys, swings and misses left and right,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “It's just been a lot of fun to watch him work right now.”
Williams struck out six of the D-backs’ first nine hitters, including five straight batters across the second and third innings. He was perfect through five innings on 67 pitches with the bottom of Arizona’s order coming up in the sixth.
Tawa led off the sixth with a single which came one pitch after he fouled off a bunt attempt that appeared to draw the ire of the Guardians, which played into an ensuing benches-clearing fracas.
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“I don't really have any reaction,” Williams said. “It is what it is. I don't really care. My job is to get outs, and that's what I'm trying to do.”
Bailey had some words for Tawa after the bunt. Asked about that moment postgame, the backstop deadpanned, “I was just asking him how he’s doing.”
Williams nearly worked through the sixth inning unscathed, but his two-out walk to Corbin Carroll gave way to the rain delay. He said he couldn’t grip the baseball well as the rain began to come down harder. Bailey noted it got to a point where he called for Williams to throw whatever pitches he felt he could grip best.
After the lengthy delay, Hunter Gaddis replaced Williams and finished the sixth inning.
Williams leads the American League with 178 strikeouts. That also is his new career high, which he set in just 23 starts, after he needed 31 outings to log 173 strikeouts last year. Williams is on pace to become the first Cleveland pitcher with 200 punchouts in a season since Bieber in 2019 (259).
The biggest difference for Williams this season is he has massively cut down his free passes. He averaged 4.5 walks/nine innings in 2025 compared to 2.5 this year.
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“I’ve just been trying to do that all year, not walking people and seeing what they can do with it,” Williams said. “I know I can get people out when I’ve got my best stuff and [when I’m] throwing it over the plate and not being too fine.”
When a guy has the arsenal Williams does, it can be that simple.
“He throws 100 [with his four-seam fastball] with a 90 mph sweeper and a banger of a curveball,” Bailey said. “There’s not really bad pitches to call, which makes my job a little easier.”
The Guardians went 0-3 in Williams’ previous three starts while scoring two total runs. Bailey jump-started things Sunday by opening the scoring with a solo homer in the third. Cleveland’s three-run fifth inning provided some breathing room.
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The Guardians (57-56) improved to 6-10 since the All-Star break with Sunday’s win, which also kept them from falling under .500 for the first time since May 5 (18-19). Monday’s off-day corresponds with the 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline, through which Cleveland is targeting help offensively.
“I'm going to hang out with my family and be a husband and a father, and I'm sure the phone will be close to me,” Vogt said of the off-day. “We don't know what's going to happen. Really good win by our guys today. I really like the way we're going into the off-day.”