Mets Fans Give Guardians' Gavin Williams Classy Standing Ovation After Near No-Hitter

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In addition to baseball's longest World Series championship drought, the Cleveland Guardians own baseball's longest no-hitter drought, and that will last for another day.
Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams came two outs shy of the club's first no-hitter since 1981 Wednesday, giving up only a home run to New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. After inducing a flyout from first baseman Pete Alonso and walking left fielder Brandon Nimmo, Williams was lifted in favor of pitcher Hunter Gaddis.
In a spectacle nearly as rare as a no-hitter, Mets fans rewarded Williams with a standing ovation as he walked off the mound.
Gavin Williams receives a nice ovation from the crowd in Queens after coming just two outs away from a no-hitter 👏 pic.twitter.com/UdHDCpizVC
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2025
Gaddis retired designated hitter Mark Vientos to preserve his team's 4–1 victory, which brought Cleveland within a game of the American League's final wild-card playoff spot. Williams took the win, his seventh on the season.
A no-hitter, however, will have to wait for another day.
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Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .