Athletics at Cleveland Guardians

Watching Gavin Williams work against an overmatched A’s lineup on Sunday, it was easy to begin looking ahead to dream about his potential on the October stage. The big right-hander with overpowering stuff is the type of pitcher any team would love to lean on in the postseason. “You can kind of see the panic in a lot of the hitters,” outfielder Steven Kwan said. “They’ve got to cover a bunch of different shapes and pitches. I think that's when he's at his best, is when the hitters are feeling really uncomfortable.” The Guardians have work to do, but Williams got them one step closer to punching their postseason ticket on Sunday. He struck out nine over seven innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, to lead the Guardians to a 1-0 win over the A’s at Progressive Field. Cleveland completed a three-game sweep in its final home game of the regular season. The Guardians (81-75) are one game ahead of the White Sox (80-76) for first place in the AL Central.  The Guardians also now have a three-game cushion on the AL West-leading Rangers (78-78) for the No. 2 seed in the AL -- and the first-round bye that would come with it. The next time they play in this ballpark, it could be a postseason game with Williams on the bump. “That's the biggest goal,” Williams said. “Everybody wants to play in October, and that's what we're striving for every year.” The White Sox hold the tiebreaker over the Guardians after winning the head-to-head series (7-6), which means Cleveland has to finish with a better record to win the Central. The Guards took care of business this week with a 5-1 homestand that included a series win over the South Siders. The homestand also helped the Guardians eclipse 2 million in attendance at Progressive Field for a third straight season, which is the club's longest such streak since 2000-02. Williams gave the home crowd a lot to cheer for on Sunday, following a two-hour, five-minute rain delay. The only real threat against Williams came after Zack Gelof and Donovan Walton hit consecutive singles to open the second inning. He worked around that traffic, and by the end of his outing had reassumed the AL lead in strikeouts (244), surpassing Dylan Cease’s 239. Williams has a 1.44 ERA in 25 innings over four starts in September.  “Just unbelievable,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “He takes the ball, \[throws\