Gavin Williams Meets The Moment, But Guardians Bats Let Him Down

CLEVELAND - Everything lined up for the Cleveland Guardians the way they wanted after they won the AL Central. They earned the No. 2 seed and an automatic berth in the ALDS.

The Guardians seemed to draw the more favorable side of the bracket, avoiding the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays - as well as their playoff nemesis New York Yankees - and they would be able to throw Parker Messick and Gavin Williams in Games 1, 2, 4 and 5.

The Guardians got a much-deserved week off last week to rest their weary legs after a grueling playoff push in September and they came into the postseason fresh and ready to compete.

Perhaps that's what makes the first two outcomes in Cleveland the last 72 hours all the more frustrating. After getting shut out in Game 1 on Saturday, 3-0, the Guardians coughed up an early 2-0 lead against the Chicago White Sox and dropped Game 2, 4-3 .

Gavin Williams followed Messick's solid outing in Game 1 with one of the best performances of his entire career, but Cleveland's offense hasn't done nearly enough to back their work. Now the Guardians are heading to Chicago to fight for their postseason lives.

Williams was completely overpowering on Monday night at Progressive Field.

He finished the game with 11 strikeouts, which is the second best performance in club postseason history. Only Charles Nagy in the 1996 ALDS against Baltimore has ever punched out more opposing hitters (12). Williams was the first Cleveland pitcher since Bartolo Colon in 2001 to strike out at least 11 hitters in a playoff game.

Williams' 55% miss rate was also the highest in his MLB career.

But it wasn't just that the White Sox had a hard time putting the ball in play. Williams "stuff" was as electric as he's ever showcased since making his big league debut on June 21, 2023.

Williams threw 36 of his 98 pitches at least 99.0 mph Monday night, and 18 of those registered triple-digits on the radar gun. It was one of the more memorable postseason pitching performances across the league since MLB began tracking advanced data.

Williams ultimately finished the night after 5-plus innings (he pitched to the leadoff hitter in the 6th). He surrendered two earned runs on four hits, scattering three walks and striking out 11.

He also made a little team history early in the game. With his strikeout of Murakami in the first inning, followed by fanning the side in the second, then opening the third inning with another K, Gavin Williams became the first player in Guardians franchise history to collect five straight strikeouts in a postseason game (according to Elias Sports).

Ultimately, the White Sox deserve a lot of credit for the way they made him work, especially the second time through the order. Chicago has been a bit strike-out-happy this year offensively anyways, and it didn't seem to overly fluster them that Williams had elite stuff on a big stage.

The bigger problem for Cleveland is that the offense has fallen flat through the first two games of the ALDS. The Guardians are 0-for-8 combined with runners in scoring position through the first two contests. Chicago gifted Cleveland a pair of runs on a throwing error in the first inning and it looked like perhaps "Guards Ball" could be the Sox undoing in Game 2.

But aside from Steven Kwan's first inning single and Chase DeLauter's second inning single, the Guardians didn't collect another base hit until the eighth inning.

In that regard, it felt a bit like Groundhog's Day for Guardians fans. The feeling is becoming a bit too familiar in watching October offensive struggles that don't back good pitching performances.

In fact, the Guardians are just 1-for-14 with runners on base in the first two games. That lone hit came off Jo Adell's bat in the 8th inning, after DeLauter had already singled. Adell tripled off the top of the fence in dead center field to bring home a third run.

Baseball Savant acknowledged the tracking data from Adell's long triple would have been a home run in 19 of 30 Major League ballparks.

It's probably unfair to over-react to losing back-to-back games with a subpar offensive output. It's happened plenty of times to this club all season and there doesn't seem to be any panic in the Guardians clubhouse after another loss.

And if history is any precursor, the Guardians are going to need to figure it out offensively because their postseason record with low run production isn't very good. Since 2017, Cleveland has lost 18 of 21 postseason games when scoring three-or-fewer runs. They've also won 9 of 11 when scoring at least four runs.

Stephen Vogt hasn't named his Game 3 starter yet, but whoever is on the bump is likely going to need a much better offensive output to stave off another long winter along the shores of Lake Erie.

Meanwhile, the White Sox haven't clinched a postseason series in front of a home crowd since they won the 1906 World Series over their northern neighbors from Wrigleyville.

Sox manager Will Venable acknowledged postgame that the White Sox altered their pitching plan when they saw the Guardians lineup for Game 2. Instead of going right from Anthony Kay to Sean Burke, he said they wanted to get through DeLauter a second time before going to Burke out of the bullpen. He decided to slot in Sean Newcomb, and went to him quickly after Kay pitched to just three hitters. Newcomb's throwing error allowed two Guardians runs to score in the first inning, but he ultimately got out of the inning without further damage. Burke was brilliant once he came in, at one point retiring 13 in a row and surrendering just one hit. He now has an ERA of less than 1.00 against Cleveland this season.

The Guardians recognize there is no room for error and if they want to snap the sport's longest World Series drought, Wednesday afternoon in the Windy City needs to see different results. 78 years was a long time ago.