Gavin Williams Historic Starts Have Not Lead to Success for Cleveland Guardians

Gavin Williams has entered the record books for individual performance, but the Guardians continue to lose. How does the run support compare to similar starting pitchers?

Jul 23, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams (32) celebrates during the seventh inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Gavin Williams became the fifth pitcher in the past 20 years to record at least 11 strikeouts in four consecutive games.

The others include three fellow Guardians, Shane Bieber (2021), Trevor Bauer (2018), and Corey Kluber (2017). The others to have achieved the feat have been Gerrit Cole (2019) and Chris Sale (2015, 2018). The Guardians won one time in this four game stretch, scoring a combined seven runs in all four games. Teams have to win when getting that production from a starting pitcher. 

Williams has had the worst four game stretch with 11 or more strikeouts in consecutive games out of the the other Guardians to have similar numbers. Bieber went two and one with a no decision, getting 14 total runs of support. Trevor Bauer went two and two with 17 total runs of support and Corey Kluber went four and one (he had five consecutive starts) netting 25 runs of support. 

While the starts by Williams have been impressive, it proves that the Guardians need better offense. It is on the Guardians offense to reward Williams’ performances with winning results. The Guardians are not talented enough to waste top-end pitching performances. They need to win games pitchers give up two or less runs and they need to win games when they score 4+ runs.  

Jun 8, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams (32) throws a pitch during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The last time the Guardians invested on the offensive side of the ball was back in 2017 with Edwin Encarnacion. The best record mentioned above with similar performances as Williams was in 2017 when Kluber went four and one. 

Historic pitching is wonderful to watch and greatly benefits the team, but pitching does not score runs and the Guardians need every bit of help they can get, whether it be trade or promotion. As much fun as watching Williams pitch lately has been, it has also been just as frustrating watching the team waste the starts that should result in wins. 

In 2024, the Guardians used little capital to obtain Lane Thomas. Although he did not contribute often and was not a well known name to the average fan, he still hit one of the biggest post season home runs off one of the best pitchers in the American League to send the Guardians to the American League Championship Series. Cleveland fans are not expecting any Encarnacion signings, but the trade for Thomas proves that adding a professional hitter to a lineup can yield positive results. 

It is unfair to ask the Guardians pitchers to be stellar on a nightly basis and the record of Williams historic past four starts shows that stellar does not always result in wins.