Gavin Williams has quickly become one of the biggest heroes of the Cleveland Guardians’ postseason run, and he made sure to share the credit with the city that cheered him on. On Saturday night, the right hander carried a no hitter into the sixth inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series and struck out twelve White Sox hitters in a 2-0 win that sent Cleveland to the American League Championship Series. A sellout crowd at Progressive Field roared with nearly every pitch, and Williams clearly fed off that energy. As the celebration carried on around him on the field, still wearing his goggles and a fresh Take October shirt, Williams caught up with Mason Horodyski of WEWS. When asked about the night, he spoke directly to the fans who packed the ballpark.
“It’s fun pitching here in Cleveland. I love this place,” Williams said.
"It's fun pitching here in Cleveland. I love this place."
I had a chance to catch up with Gavin Williams after his dominating 12 strikeout performance in Game 5 to send the #Guardians to the ALCS#GuardsBall @WEWS pic.twitter.com/pMQYaipEfe
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) October 11, 2026
It is easy to see why he feels that way. Progressive Field has been his personal stage all season long. During the regular season, Williams posted a 2.84 ERA across eighteen home starts, compared to a 5.05 ERA in fourteen starts on the road. That split was a big reason Stephen Vogt lined him up to start Game 2, putting him in position to pitch a potential Game 5 at home.
The plan worked to perfection. In his two starts at Progressive Field during this series, Williams allowed just two earned runs over 10 2/3 innings and struck out 23 batters. In Game 2, he fanned eleven and became the first pitcher in franchise history to strike out five straight batters in a postseason game. In Game 5, he did even better, allowing only one hit over 5 2/3 innings and tying Charles Nagy’s franchise postseason record with twelve strikeouts.
What made Saturday even more impressive was the workload leading up to it. Just two days earlier, Williams made the first relief appearance of his big league career, throwing eighteen pitches in the ninth inning of Game 4 in Chicago. Instead of slowing him down, he said those live reps actually helped him. Vogt called the Game 5 performance big boy stuff and said the only reason Williams left the game was that he ran out of pitches.
The fans certainly played their part. Cleveland dropped the first two games of the series at home, and the crowd could have come into Game 5 nervous. Instead, the ballpark was rocking from the first pitch, and every strikeout from Williams seemed to get louder than the one before it. When Erik Sabrowski struck out Munetaka Murakami with the bases loaded after Williams exited, the place exploded.
For Williams, who was Cleveland’s first round pick out of East Carolina in 2021, it was the kind of night he will never forget. He led the American League with 248 strikeouts this season, and across three appearances in this series, he went 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings.
The Guardians now head to Tampa Bay for the start of the best of seven ALCS against the Rays, with Game 1 set for Monday at 8 p.m. at Tropicana Field. The middle three games of the series will be played back at Progressive Field, which means Cleveland fans could get another chance to see Williams work his magic at home. Based on what he said Saturday night, that is exactly where he wants to be.
NEXT: Stephen Vogt’s Three-Word Reaction To Gavin Williams Says It All
