Gavin Williams adds to Cy Young case with dominant start Guardians desperately needed

Although it may sometimes seem like Gavin Williams may have taken a backseat in the Guardians' rotation thanks to the emergence of Parker Messick, he spent a good portion of Thursday afternoon reminding the baseball world just how good he can be. 

And it came at the perfect time.

With the Guardians scrapping to stay afloat in the American League Wild Card picture, Williams silenced the Giants by allowing just two runs over 5 2/3 innings in Cleveland 4-2 win that helped them gain a bit of ground on the idle Twins in the Wild Card race. 

But Williams’ strong outing also helped him reach the 200 strikeout plateau for the first time in his career despite the fact there’s a little more than a month left in the season. 

Talk about the best of both worlds.

Gavin Williams made a clear Cy Young statement in Guardians win over Giants 

That start was just another strong outing for Williams, who has now allowed three runs or less in nine of his last 11 starts. He’s also recorded six starts with double-digit strikeouts in that span. 

It was pretty clear early on that Williams had everything working, and he ended his outing with seven whiffs on his fastball and six on his sweeper. 

His lone mistake came on a Willy Adames two-run homer that came on a fastball down in the zone. 

Williams now has a 3.72 ERA across his 26 starts this season, and, perhaps most importantly, has recorded 154 2/3 innings. He should fly by his previous season-high of 167 2/3 innings, which he set last season in 31 starts. 

Not only has he been going deeper in games, but he’s been racking up whiffs in a way that fans (and voters) love. 

The biggest obstacle standing in his way is likely Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, who has also racked up 201 strikeouts in just 137 2/3 innings along with having a 2.42 ERA. 

But weirder things have happened. All it takes is two bad weeks from Cease and two excellent weeks from Williams. 

Williams was able to get some much-needed help from the Guardians offense thanks to a three-run first inning highlighted by RBI singles from Patrick Bailey and Steven Kwan along with a sacrifice fly from Nathaniel Lowe. 

They added another in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Kwan before getting their fifth run in the eighth inning on a Brayan Rocchio single. 

Even if some of the momentum gathered from the Guardians’ win was negated by the Blue Jays’ win over the Braves, the Guardians handled their series against a team with a losing record. 

With the win, the Guardians are now 62-66 and are a game behind the Twins in the AL Wild Card standings.

Now it’s onto Colorado.

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