CLEVELAND -- Guardians starter Gavin Williams snapped off a 2-2 slider to Samuel Basallo in the seventh inning on Saturday. The 85.7 mph offering landed on the outer half of the plate and froze the left-handed-hitting Orioles backstop, who was rung up for strike three.
That punchout was part of Williams’ stellar effort as the big right-hander led the Guardians to a 4-2 win over the Orioles at Progressive Field. Williams struck out 11 batters (one shy of his career high), while allowing just one run on three hits and one walk over seven innings.
The lone run Williams surrendered came via a solo homer by Leodys Taveras in the fourth inning. Williams went on to retire the final 11 hitters he faced, and by the end of his outing, he had assumed the MLB lead in strikeouts (40).
Williams’ effort was just what the doctor ordered for a beleaguered Guardians bullpen that has suffered a few hiccups this week, including on Friday, when the Orioles scored six times in the eighth inning to erase a 4-0 Cleveland lead.
Williams remained in control. threw 100 pitches, including 73 strikes. His 73 percent strike rate marked the third best of his big league career, behind June 27, 2023 (76.1 percent) and July 7, 2023 (73.6 percent).
Brayan Rocchio and Bo Naylor powered the Guardians’ offense from the bottom of the order. Rocchio belted a three-run homer off O’s starter Dean Kremer in the fifth inning, and Naylor hit a solo shot in the eighth to provide some insurance.