CLEVELAND – Gavin Williams, at six-foot-six and 250 pounds, is a beast of a man who was a monster in the American League Division Series. In the span of six days against the Chicago White Sox, he started Game 2, closed out Game 4 and then returned to dominate Game 5, throwing 210 pitches over 11.2 innings while allowing only two runs and striking out 24, one short of Gerrit Cole’s 2019 DS record.
The benefit of earning a first-round bye meant Williams had nine days of rest heading into that series and that came in handy, Cleveland Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis said, because the team did “not know how much we were going to ask of him. As the old adage goes, everything happens for a reason. I think certainly it's a blessing in disguise. It didn't come about because of planning this, but I think (the rest) has helped him.”
All of which brought Williams back on normal rest for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday afternoon and once again he shoved, averaging 97.6 m.p.h. with his fastball while getting nine whiffs on 21 swings against his sweeper. That produced five dominant innings of two-run ball and combined with Petey Halpin’s two-run homer in the fifth led to a 3-2 victory that gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the best-of-seven.
Cleveland’s vaunted bullpen shone again with four shutout innings, capped by a four-out save from Cade Smith. The closer from Abbotsford, B.C., came on in the eighth with two out and the tying run at third base, winning a 10-pitch duel against Yandy Diaz with a 98 m.p.h. upper-rail fastball for a swinging strike three, and then went three-up, three-down in the ninth.
Game 4 is scheduled for Friday, although forecasted rain meant there were active discussions among MLB officials on whether to delay the contest.
Postponed or not, the Rays plan to start Nick Martinez although the Guardians were waiting to see how Game 3 played out before committing to a plan. An extra day of rest opened the possibility of more creative pitcher usage, the type both teams have employed throughout October to this point.
Martinez, for example, pitched out of the bullpen during the division series and sat in the bullpen for Game 1 and was in the dugout with his cleats on, in case needed, for Game 2. “Whatever the team needs, I'm up for it,” he said. “That's been my MO since coming back from Japan, and my whole career, really. That's got to be the mentality for the rest of the year.”
Same with Game 3 starter Griffin Jax, who also pitched in relief against the Yankees the last round and bounced between roles all season. He gave up three runs in 4.2 innings Thursday, bled for one in the second when Jo Adell took a changeup for a called third strike, won an ABS challenge to reverse the call, worked a 3-2 walk that was upheld after catcher Liam Hicks challenged unsuccessfully, and then scored on a Nathaniel Lowe double lashed to right.
The Rays did their only damage against Williams in the fourth when, after going nine-up, nine-down the first time through, Diaz led off with a double and after back-to-back strikeouts of Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero, Victor Mesa Jr. walked before Chandler Simpson ripped a 2-1 sweeper into right-field corner for a two-run triple.
But Halpin delivered in the fifth after a Patrick Bailey single for a 3-2 lead and the bullpen did the rest.
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