Gavin Williams was coming off a historic streak that vaulted him back into contention for the AL Cy Young Award. Then, following a rough outing against the San Diego Padres on Friday night, Williams and the Guardians alike were left wondering what the heck happened.
After being given an early three-run lead, Williams could not hold it. He lasted just one out into the fifth inning, allowing five runs on seven hits, and, most surprisingly, four walks, and Cleveland went on to lose the series opener 7-5 at Progressive Field.
Afterward, Williams got honest about his performance, calling it “frustrating,” particularly because the Guardians’ offense did its part.
“Yeah, it’s definitely frustrating, especially on my part. Seeing what the offense did tonight, I wish I could put up a little bit more zeros,” Williams said.
"Yeah, it's definitely frustrating, especially on my part. Seeing what the offense did tonight, I wish I could put up a little bit more zeros"#Guardians Gavin Williams following his outing vs the Padres after struggling following Cleveland's offense getting off to a good start… pic.twitter.com/KBTj27ilOR
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) August 15, 2026
Cleveland was counting on Williams to help get it out of another rough stretch in which it lost four of its previous five games. Instead, the Guardians fell further behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, trailing them by five games with 39 remaining.
The Guardians were tied with the White Sox at the All-Star break, but Cleveland is 8-18 since then. Williams is just 1-3 in that time, despite four straight games with at least 10 strikeouts and one or zero walks.
The right-hander failed to extend that overall streak to six games with just seven strikeouts and two walks in a loss to the White Sox last Saturday. But that was nothing compared to what he encountered against the Padres.
Williams was in trouble right away, walking leadoff batter Fernando Tatis Jr. He escaped a first-and-third jam in the first and second innings before retiring the side in order in the third.
Then, in the fourth, after a leadoff walk, Williams gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Xander Bogaerts. In the fifth, Tatis homered to tie the score, and after a walk to load the bases, Luis Campusano hit a two-run double that gave San Diego the lead and knocked Williams from the game.
Hopefully, the Guardians can make up some ground in the standings before Williams takes the mound again on Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.
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