If there's one thing the Cleveland Guardians have been able to count on this season, it's been Gavin Williams shutting down opposing lineups. Cleveland's ace was on a historic run as he took the mound against the San Diego Padres, but the Guardians ended up dropping the game, 7-5, in what ended up being a rare outing for Williams in front of a sold-out crowd. Williams' 4.1 innings pitched marked the shortest outing of his season; his five earned runs are the most the pitcher has given up since mid-July. He was still able to strike out five batters and generate 12 whiffs, but the biggest issue for Williams in this start was simply his command. He got too deep into counts, didn't execute some pitches, and the Padres made him pay for it. This performance definitely isn't what Cleveland is used to seeing from its ace, and manager Stephen Vogt simply described it as a "weird one" for the pitcher. "I thought he didn't have great fastball command tonight, and obviously just made a couple of mistakes for the homers" Vogt said postgame. Williams agreed with his skipper's analysis of his performance. "I really wasn't throwing any strikes with the off speed pitched," he said. "It's definitely frustrating, especially on my part seeing what the offense did tonight."
Williams' uncharacteristic start came at an untimely moment for the Guardians, as the offense was finally showing some signs of life at the plate. The Guardians grabbed an earlier three-run lead after Nathanial Lowe blasted an opposite-field home run in the second inning, and ended up having a three-hit day at the plate, which included another RBI base hit. Brayan Rocchio followed that up with a solo blast in the third inning, his first home run since July 20. Petey Halpin even drove in Angel Genao on an RBI double later on in the game, which felt like a miracle considering Cleveland's struggles with runners in scoring position over the last few weeks. Still, the Guardians are trying to stay positive in the face of more adversity. "I thought we had great at-bats. I was really proud of the way we competed tonight," Vogt continued. "It's an unfortunate result, but I was really pleased with the way we competed tonight." Cleveland's series-opening loss highlights arguably the team's biggest issue since the All-Star break; it just can't seem to put together a complete game. When the pitching is on, the offense struggles. When the Guardians get hits, the pitching gives up too many runs to overcome the deficit. That inconsistency was on full display at Progressive Field on Friday. The Guardians will look for a win on Saturday evening to avoid a fifth consecutive series loss.