San Francisco Giants at Cleveland Guardians

There have been games, Steven Kwan said, where he hasn’t had much to do in the outfield while Gavin Williams has been on the mound. The big right-hander with a propensity for racking up strikeouts has a knack for limiting balls in play. In those quiet moments, Kwan mulls what he would do if he were in the batter’s box against Williams, who can beat opponents in multiple ways: A four-seam fastball that touches triple digits. A slider. A sinker. A curveball. There isn't really a good answer. “It's crazy that anybody touches him in the first place,” Kwan said. A few hundred batters this season have tried but not succeeded. The Guardians beat the Giants, 5-2, on Thursday in the rubber match of a three-game set at Progressive Field behind another strong outing by Williams He struck out 11 batters over 5 2/3 innings, in which he allowed two runs on four hits and three walks. That effort helped the Guardians secure their first series win in nearly a month, since they took a three-game set from the Reds in Cincinnati on July 28-29. Cleveland lost its next five series. Williams now has 201 strikeouts in 154 2/3 innings over 26 starts this season. He’s the first Cleveland pitcher with 200-plus punchouts in a campaign since Shane Bieber had 259 in 214 1/3 innings over 34 games (33 starts) in 2019. “It’s special, especially for the first time in my career,” Williams said of his milestone. “It's definitely special to see that. I hope it continues. I think it's awesome.” Williams has been one of the Majors’ premier strikeout artists this season. Thursday marked his ninth double-digit-strikeout game this season, which is tied with Toronto’s Dylan Cease for the second most in MLB behind Jacob Misiorowski. It’s the most such games by a Cleveland pitcher since Trevor Bauer in 2018 (10). Seven of those games have come since July. Williams went five consecutive starts with 10 or more strikeouts, from July 9-Aug. 2. He logged just 12 total strikeouts over his past two outings entering Thursday, including a tough outing Friday against the Padres. Williams issued four walks over 4 1/3 innings and allowed as many runs (five) as he had punchouts.