Gavin Williams was handed one of the toughest assignments imaginable this week, and he passed it with flying colors. Two days after making the first relief appearance of his big league career in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, the Cleveland Guardians right hander took the mound for a winner take all Game 5 against the White Sox on Saturday night. All he did was carry a no hitter into the sixth inning, strike out twelve batters and lead Cleveland to a 2-0 win that sent the Guardians to the American League Championship Series. It was the kind of performance that will be talked about in Cleveland for a long time. When Stephen Vogt was asked about his starter after the game, he needed only three words to describe it.
“That was big boy stuff,” Vogt said.
“That was big boy stuff” – #Guardians manager Stephen Vogt on Gavin Williams 12 strikeout performance in Game 5 win over #WhiteSox
Video courtesy #MLB pool feed pic.twitter.com/gVCfiKt7XI
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) October 11, 2026
Vogt pointed out that the Guardians asked Williams to do something he had never done before when they sent him out of the bullpen in the ninth inning of Game 4. He also admitted that nobody could have pictured a start like this one, especially given the workload. Vogt explained that you never know how a pitcher will respond in that situation, but Williams just kept getting better as the night went on. The only reason he came out of the game, according to his manager, was that he simply ran out of pitches.
Williams was nearly perfect from the start. He struck out nine of the first twelve hitters he faced, and the only Chicago baserunner through five innings came on a two out walk to Tristan Peters in the second. He opened the sixth by hitting Colson Montgomery with a pitch, then struck out Brenton Doyle for his twelfth strikeout of the night. That tied Charles Nagy’s franchise postseason record, which Nagy set against Baltimore in the 1996 ALDS. After getting Sam Antonacci to fly out, Williams finally lost the no hitter on a broken bat single by Kyle Teel. He walked Miguel Vargas to load the bases, and Erik Sabrowski came on to strike out Munetaka Murakami and end the threat.
His final line showed one hit, no runs, two walks and twelve strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. Williams credited the eighteen pitches he threw in the ninth inning of Game 4 for helping him, saying those live reps made a big difference.
The performance capped off a dominant series for the right hander. In Game 2, he struck out eleven over five innings and became the first pitcher in franchise history to strike out five straight batters in a postseason game. Across his two starts and one relief appearance against Chicago, Williams went 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA, striking out 24 batters and allowing just two runs in 11 2/3 innings.
None of this should come as a complete shock. Williams led the American League with 248 strikeouts during the regular season and was at his best down the stretch, posting a 2.54 ERA in September. Still, delivering that kind of outing in a do or die game, just two days after pitching in relief for the first time, is a different level of toughness.
Williams also set the tone for a historic night for the entire staff. Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith followed him to finish off the shutout, and Cleveland’s pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts, a major league postseason record for a nine inning game.
Now the Guardians turn their attention to the Rays in the best of seven ALCS, which opens Monday at 8 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Vogt summed up Williams’ night in three words. If he keeps pitching like this, he might need a few more to describe what comes next.
NEXT: Steven Kwan Names 3 Reasons Guardians Are Going To ALCS
