LOS ANGELES -- A lot had to go right for the Guardians to pull off their historic late-season comeback to win the American League Central last year, but Gavin Williams' breakout was high on the list.
The 2021 first-round pick went 4-0 with a 1.74 ERA and 38 strikeouts over his last five starts to finish the season with a 3.06 ERA and 173 punchouts in 31 starts.
If the Guardians are going to make it back to October this season, the 6-foot-6 righty will again be at the center of their playoff aspirations.
Wednesday was a sign that Williams is more than up for the challenge.
Williams carved up the Dodgers over seven superb innings, striking out 10 while surrendering only two hits (both singles to Andy Pages) and three walks, as the Guardians beat L.A., 4-1, to win the series. Williams induced 16 whiffs and allowed only three hard-hit balls on 85 pitches.
"That’s about as good as it gets from Gavin right there,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “Had every pitch working. He and Bo [Naylor] were on the same page, great sequences all night. Gavin just executed pitch after pitch after pitch.
"We saw a couple kind of bad walks mixed in there, but then dialed it right back in. Just an outstanding job by Gavin, I can’t say enough about that performance.”
It was Williams’ fifth career 10+ strikeout performance, and it made him just the third pitcher in franchise history to reach double-digit K’s against the Dodgers, joining CC Sabathia (2008) and Corey Kluber (2017).
"I mean that’s pretty sick,” Williams said about joining such elite company. “I’ve never known that, but that’s awesome, just being in that category. But if it wasn’t for Bo, I don’t know that I could do that.”
Prior to Wednesday’s start, Vogt said Williams was focused on improving his command after issuing six walks in his season debut last week. It appears Williams made whatever tweaks were needed.
"He made some mechanical adjustments from start to start,” Vogt said. “That’s what’s so special about our pitchers and [pitching coach] Carl Willis and our pitching team, they’re able to identify little adjustments that our guys need to make, and we see improvements like that all the time with our guys.”
Williams said he worked on his delivery between starts.
“I was a little too fast with the torso,” he said. “I would either pull the ball or leave it arm-side, so just doing that with dry work, and then in my ‘pen. Helped out a lot.”
The Guardians’ bats started to come alive after a slow start, too, as Gabriel Arias and José Ramírez each hit their first home runs of the season. Entering the finale, the only Guardian with a home run this year was rookie Chase DeLauter (with four), who had a scheduled off-day on Wednesday.
"Gaby’s got some of the best power in the league,” Vogt said of Arias. “It was good to see him get one, he’d been having a hard time barreling the ball up so far this year. And then José Ramírez is still pretty good at baseball. It’s just amazing how he comes through when we need him.”
Ramírez said it felt good to finally hit his first home run -- a two-run shot off Tanner Scott in the eighth inning to give the Guardians important insurance runs.
"I felt like I needed it for my confidence,” Ramírez said through team interpreter Agustin Rivera.
Concluding their season-opening road trip 4-3, the Guardians will now return to Cleveland for Friday’s home opener against the Cubs.
"We played really good baseball throughout, obviously you can nitpick anything you want, but we faced two of the best teams in the league and we’re going home over .500,” Vogt said. “... We want to win series. We’ve tied one and we’ve won one. We win series all year and good things happen. We’re going to enjoy this one tonight, enjoy the off-day tomorrow, and be ready for our home opener. Can’t wait to see the fans Friday night.”
The Guardians’ daunting schedule doesn’t get much easier once they return to Cleveland: the Guards welcome the Cubs and Royals during their upcoming homestand. Their first three opponents this season had the fifth- (Dodgers), sixth- (Cubs) and eighth-best (Mariners) winning percentages in 2025.
"It’s big wins,” Williams said. “We know we can do anything we want. We’ve proved it the past two series, we’re going to keep on with the momentum.”