Gavin

Williams

Williams reached 100.4 mph on the gun tonight, and his 98.7-mph average on his fastball was 2.1 mph better than his season norm. Still, it didn’t stop him from giving up two homers, one on a cutter and another on a curve. It would have been nice to see Williams do a little better in consecutive starts against Aaron Judge-less Yankees lineups — he allowed two homers and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings last time out — but it could have gone worse. He’s still tied for the major league lead with nine wins. He has a 3.95 ERA in his last seven starts after coming in at 2.73 in his first seven. Williams will face the Tigers next.

Williams struck out six and walked one, serving up homers to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and José Caballero along the way. He’s in sole possession of the MLB lead in wins, which isn’t necessarily predictive but matters for rotisserie fantasy formats. The right-hander has increased his sweeper usage this season and is relying on five pitches, each thrown 9% of the time or more. Williams is set for a rematch with the Yankees next time out, this time in Cleveland.

It’s a big showing from Williams after Tanner Bibee and Joey Cantillo combined to give up 11 runs in five innings the previous two days. Williams gave up nine hard-hit balls and struck out just four, but the Nationals never put together a rally, apart from their two doubles in the third. Williams, who opened May by giving up five runs in consecutive losses, has allowed a total of three runs while winning his last three starts. He’ll take a 3.28 ERA into his next start at Yankee Stadium.

Williams and Cristopher Sánchez matched up here in one of the best pitcher’s duels of the season. They each threw eight scoreless innings, but Williams was a touch sharper. His 11 strikeouts matched his season-high and his sweeper was practically un-hittable forcing 10 of his 17 total swings-and-misses. This gem was another message to the league that Williams is a budding ace and his poise after working around a baserunner in each of the seventh and eighth innings in this scoreless affair reaffirmed such. He left this superb outing with a 3.25 ERA, 84 strikeouts, and 22 walks across 69 1/3 innings so far this season. Next up for Williams will be the Nationals at home.

Williams allowed eight hits but didn’t walk anyone, picking up 17 whiffs along the way. One of the runs he surrendered was a third-inning, opposite-field solo blast off the bat of Elly De La Cruz. Williams is sporting the best K-BB percentage of his career, but his HR/FB percentage is the one blemish that leads to his 3.67 ERA. His next start lines up on the road against the Phillies.

The right-hander struck out six and walked just one, increasing his ERA to 3.74 on the season. Minnesota had a .500 BABIP on the day against him, something that’s unlikely to continue in future outings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is more representative of his talent going forward, and he picked up 24 whiffs this afternoon, with four separate pitches each registering four whiffs. Williams will carry the best strikeout rate of his career into a home start against the Reds this week.

Williams gave up 11 hard-hit balls, including homers to Isaac Collins and Michael Massey. It’s the second time in three starts that he’s been ineffective, though the outing in between was a nine-strikeout gem against the Rays. He still has a 3.28 ERA on the year. He’s due to face the Twins on Sunday.

Williams got the victory, his fifth of the year. He had an easy time even though his velocity was down a bit today; he averaged 95.2 mph with his fastball, compared to 96.7 mph in his first six starts. Still, it didn’t stop him from generating 13 whiffs or finishing with an excellent 39 percent CSW. For the season, he has a 31 percent strikeout rate and a 51 percent groundball rate, both of which are considerably better than his career marks of 24 percent and 42 percent, respectively. He’ll face the Royals next.

Williams’ first real dud of the season -- it didn’t seem like there was anything particularly wrong under the hood here, and he somehow escaped with a win anyway. His average fastball velocity was up to 97 mph. He just didn’t seem to be able to spot his curveball, allowing four of his nine hard-hit balls on 25 of those pitches. Homers continue to be a sneaky problem as he’s now allowed six in six starts. He’ll try to pick up the pieces against the Rays next week.

Williams topped his previous season high of 10 strikeouts, falling one short of matching his career high. With his sweeper proving dominant, he had 18 whiffs and a 41 percent CSW, and aside from a Leody Taveras homer, most of the hard contact against him resulted in groundouts. He’ll take a 3-1 record and a 2.12 ERA into his next start in Toronto.