The Cleveland Guardians are, as of Friday afternoon, tied at the top of the AL Central with the Chicago White Sox. They managed to catch the Pale Hose after beating the Twins 5-2 on Thursday behind an inspiring performance by starter Gavin Williams.
The right-hander gave the Guardians seven strong frames in which he allowed just three hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out 11, bringing his ERA down to 3.81 and notching his 10th win.
The 11 strikeouts were the most impressive part of his start. It’s his fourth double-digit strikeout game this year, the most in franchise history before the break in the last five years.
“Williams finished with 11 strikeouts, giving him 134 on the season to rank fourth among the major league leaders at game’s end. It was the eighth double-digit strikeout game of his career and fourth this season, the most by a Cleveland pitcher before the All-Star break since Shane Bieber recorded six such games in 2021,” Noga wrote.
Williams came very close to reaching peak Shane Bieber, and that’s no small feat. He keeps maturing as a pitcher and is actually sporting a career-high 29.1 percent strikeout rate. His previous best was 24.6 percent last season.
The big righty posted a 3.06 ERA last year, so he has been a bit worse this season when it comes to run prevention. Some would say, however, that his 2026 performance has been better than what he did in 2025, considering he is currently sporting a 3.76 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), and the number was 4.39 in the last campaign.
Most of his improvement stems from the significant step forward Williams has taken in the control department. He led the league in walks last year and had an 11.8 percent walk rate, a number he has been able to take down to 8 percent in 2026.
To sum up, Williams has been striking out more people than ever and has a career-best walk rate. You can expect that ERA to keep coming down as we enter the second half if he keeps pitching like this.
The Guardians are counting on him not just to stay healthy, but to keep contributing ace-like strikeout numbers and innings. He is a key cog in the rotation.
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