Guardians’ Gavin Williams never blinked in duel with Phillies ace

PHILADELPHIA — Gavin Williams stared down one of the National League’s leading Cy Young Award candidates Friday night at Citizens Bank Park and never blinked. Locked in a tense pitcher’s duel with Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez, the Guardians right-hander delivered one of the most dominant outings of his career in Cleveland’s 1-0 victory over Philadelphia. Williams fired eight shutout innings against one of baseball’s most dangerous lineups, allowing just four hits while matching his season high with 11 strikeouts and not issuing a single walk. It was the seventh double-digit strikeout game of Williams’ career and his third already this season. The victory improved his record to 7-3 and marked the first time in his career he worked at least eight innings without allowing a run. Williams also moved into a tie for the American League lead in strikeouts with Toronto’s Dylan Cease at 84. Meanwhile, Sánchez was nearly untouchable himself, shutting out Cleveland through eight innings and extending his scoreless streak to 37 2/3 innings. But one swing from Kyle Manzardo in the ninth inning proved enough. Manzardo’s pinch-hit home run allowed Williams to hand things over to Cade Smith in the ninth and Smith delivered his major league leading 17th save on just eight pitches. Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said Williams’ performance cemented what Cleveland already believes about the 26-year-old right-hander. “We just went and faced one of the best pitchers in the world and Gavin went pitch for pitch with that guy,” Hedges said. “For Gavin at this place against that lineup to go pitch for pitch with him shows you ... that’s our horse.” Manager Stephen Vogt saw the same thing from his emerging ace. “Man, what a beautiful game,” Vogt said. “If you liked pitching, you would’ve really liked tonight’s game. Sánchez was special. Gavin matched him inning for inning.” With so little margin for error, Williams attacked the strike zone relentlessly from beginning. Last season’s major league leader in walks allowed, Williams has now gone consecutive starts without issuing a walk after Cleveland adjusted the rotation to provide him an extra day of rest before his previous outing against the Reds. “I’m just trying to do my job,” Williams said. “Get strike one, get strike two and then go from there.” Williams’ sweeper became his primary put-away weapon Friday. According to Statcast data, the pitch generated plenty of swings and misses against Philadelphia hitters, particularly once Williams got ahead in the count. Most of his 11 strikeouts ended with hitters flailing over the top of a sweeper diving away from right-handed bats. “The sweeper was special tonight,” Vogt said. “Curveball was sharp and the sinker was running a lot. I mean, it’s a good combination.” Hedges said the effectiveness of the sweeper depended on Williams’ ability to establish all five pitches first. “You can’t just go out there and spam sweepers,” Hedges said. “You got to set up the at-bat with other pitches and Gavin executed all those other pitches, those other shapes and speeds so he could get to that pitch.” Williams said he spent time during his midweek bullpen session refining the pitch’s shape and movement profile before Friday’s start. “I kind of worked on it right before the game and in my midweek pen too,” Williams said. “Just trying to get it back to the metrics I wanted, the shape I wanted so that definitely helped out.” The Phillies mounted their best threat in the seventh inning when Brandon Marsh attempted to steal second base with two outs, but Williams whiffed Adolis Garcia with a high fastball and Hedges fired a strike to Travis Bazzana to complete a strikeout-throwout double play that preserved the scoreless tie. “It was phenomenal,” Williams said. “Hedgie’s been doing it the whole year.” The outing continued what is becoming a trend for Cleveland this season: when the game demands an ace-level performance, Williams keeps answering the call.