CLEVELAND (AP) — After coming out of the bullpen Thursday night to get the final three outs, Gavin Williams will start for the Cleveland Guardians in Saturday night's winner-take-all Game 5 of their AL Division Series against Sean Burke and the Chicago White Sox.
“Gavin wants the ball. We want him to have the ball, and it’s his game,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Friday.
Williams was the eighth Cleveland pitcher used during a 9-5 win in Game
4 at Chicago. He made his first major league relief appearance after All-Star closer Cade Smith got into trouble in the ninth inning when Miguel Vargas homered and Munetaka Murakami drew a walk.
The right-hander threw 18 pitches, allowing one hit and striking out one batter, to nail down the victory and even the best-of-five series at two games apiece.
Williams said he walked by Vogt's office after the game and told the third-year manager he was ready to go.
“The body feels good right now. I've been in the training room all morning, just figuring it out. But it’s just a normal day really,” said Williams, who went 14-8 with a 3.76 ERA during the regular season and led the AL with 248 strikeouts. "I throw a 'pen on those days and everybody knows it. So there’s nothing different. Just being able to feel the mound in a game situation is even better at that point."
Williams struck out 11 over five-plus innings during Monday's 4-3 loss in Game 2. He was the first pitcher in franchise history to whiff five straight batters in a postseason game. He also threw 16 pitches over 100 mph, the fourth-most by an AL pitcher in a playoff game since tracking started in 2008.
The 27-year-old Williams allowed two runs and four hits. He threw 98 pitches, 59 for strikes, but got into trouble by allowing the leadoff hitter to get aboard in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The Guardians had a 2-0 lead before the White Sox rallied with three runs in the sixth to take the lead.
This will be Williams' sixth start and seventh appearance against the White Sox this season. He is 0-1 with a 3.76 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 11 walks.
“They’re still a hard team to pitch to. There’s nothing really to learn at this point of the season. I know what they've got, and they know what I've got,” Williams said.
Burke will be making his fifth appearance and third start against Cleveland this year. He is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA.
The right-hander came in during the third inning of Monday's game and earned the win. He retired 13 straight batters in one stretch while allowing one run and one hit with six strikeouts overall.
“I think I did a pretty good job of commanding all my stuff in the zone. I think that’s kind of the key with this team. You see the last couple games how they were able to piece together bigger innings when you’re not as sharp with command, or you get behind guys, you walk guys, and then this team kind of thrives,” Burke said.
It is the first time in seven games this postseason the White Sox will go with a traditional starter rather than an opener. Burke said manager Will Venable approached him on Wednesday about that scenario.
“Sean is someone that’s going to play a big role in tomorrow’s game as the bulk guy. As we kind of evaluated the set of guys that we have and that we’ll use tomorrow, it made sense to start him,” Venable said.
It will be all hands on deck for both teams, with the winner heading to Tampa Bay for Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday.
Chicago is 9-8 against the Guardians this year, but Cleveland was able to win its third straight AL Central title by one game over the White Sox, which gave the Guardians home-field advantage for this series.
That hasn't mattered much to this point, though, because the road team has won all four games.
“We would obviously have loved to win Game 3 or 4. There’s been a couple of times that Vogter and I have just looked at each other and laughed because this is just how it goes with these two clubs. And I think it’s a special thing,” Venable said. “If you look at just the story of the battle that we’ve had with these guys throughout this season coming down to that last weekend for the division and then here we are with a Game 5 for a chance to go to the CS, I think it’s fitting two really good clubs that are both just very competitive, really talented, and the heart and soul of the club and identity of the club comes through, and I think it’s been cool to watch that play out in competition throughout the year.”
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