Williams loses command as Guardians can't contain early momentum

CLEVELAND -- You had to feel good about how things were going for the Guardians early on Friday. Cleveland led, 3-0, through three innings, and it had its lead horse on the mound in starter Gavin Williams.

The air began to come out of the balloon in the fourth inning. It popped in the fifth. And in the end, it was another disappointing outcome for the Guardians at a time when their season continues to lose steam in its own way during a second-half slide.

The Guardians lost, 7-5, to the Padres at Progressive Field in the opener of a three-game series. Williams delivered the shortest start of the season, as he tossed 4 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits (including two home runs) and four walks with five strikeouts.

“It's definitely frustrating on my part,” Williams said. “Seeing what the offense did tonight, I wish I could have put up more zeros.”

So it goes for the Guardians. Anecdotally, it has continually felt lately like they haven’t been able to align all their pieces on the chessboard consistently enough. When Cleveland gets a quality pitching performance, it struggles offensively. When it’s productive at the plate, poor outings have cropped up.

The Guardians (59-64) fell to 3-9 in August and 8-18 since the All-Star break. Only the A’s (6-19) have had a worse record over the latter span. The Guardians sit 1 1/2 games behind the Tigers (60-62) for the final AL Wild Card spot, though the Rangers, Twins, Blue Jays and Orioles sit between them and Detroit.

Williams entered Friday with 62 strikeouts over his previous six starts, which included five outings with 10-plus punchouts. He was working with a three-run lead entering the fourth inning behind solo home runs by Brayan Rocchio and Nathaniel Lowe, who also tacked on an RBI single.

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Williams worked around two walks and two singles through three scoreless innings, but finally paid for his command issues in the fourth. He issued a leadoff walk to Jackson Merrill, who came around moments later on a Xander Bogaerts two-run homer. Bogaerts’ blast, which cut the Guardians’ lead to one, came off an 87 mph sweeper that Williams hung at the top of the zone.

Williams immediately knew he made a mistake. He briefly froze after he completed his delivery. The blast went a Statcast-projected 426 feet.

“He had some innings where he looked really good, and some other innings where the command was off,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I thought he didn't have great fastball command tonight, and obviously just made a couple mistakes for the homers. He really battled. They made him work. But definitely not his best command night.”

The second mistake came in the fifth. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the inning with a homer off a Williams sinker that leaked up and inside. It had a 115.5 mph exit velocity. Williams’ night ended after he allowed two singles, one walk and a two-run double over the next five batters.

Williams’ four-seamer has been a major weapon for him during his recent stretch of excellence. He said he was trying to figure out things mechanically on Friday to help lock that pitch in. Of the 23 fastballs he threw, 11 were balls. That wasn’t his only issue.

“I really wasn't throwing any strikes with the offspeed pitches except the curveball,” Williams said. “It's about the only thing I could land. It's not a good night when you're not landing everything for strikes.”

With 39 games left, the Guardians need a hot streak now more than ever to keep their season from fully slipping from their grasp. They can perhaps look across the diamond this weekend for inspiration on how one strong stretch could change their fortunes.

San Diego (66-57) has won 16 of its past 20 games to climb into an NL Wild Card position.

Not taking things one day at a time right now isn’t going to do the Guardians any favors. They would love to start with a one-game winning streak and go from there.

“You can't get panicked over 162,” Vogt said pregame. “It's one day at a time, and we're right there. I think the belief we have in this team and the belief that this team has is, ‘We’ve got a long way to go.’ We can watch the standings, we can watch all that stuff. None of that helps. All that helps is we keep our heads down.

“We show up ready to win every day, and that's what we're going to continue to do.”