Guardians' Gavin Williams tosses career-high 13 strikeouts in dominant outing

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-gavin/QNoxKzjF/"]Williams[/a], 27, exited the game after a dominant seven-inning outing, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and one walk. [/p][p]The fourth-year starter for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/cleveland-guardians/4K05MrFG/"]Cleveland[/a] is in the midst of a career season. He's already far eclipsed his previous single-season best of 174 strikeouts, now sitting with 217. [/p][embed guid="9207baec-45c9-4f63-8395-8513437db450" url="https://x.com/MLB/status/2094947697950122383?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Williams lowered his season earned run average to 3.81, just slightly up from his 3.09 from last season, all while bringing his career-best WHIP down even more to 1.09.[/p][p]Should the Guardians pull off the win, it'll be Williams' 13th, which marks a career-best after recording 12 last season. [/p][embed guid="fcfee190-b2ea-4af4-ba6f-70cf42f80637" url="https://x.com/MLB/status/2094944225431334972?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Cleveland are in the midst of an insane American League Wild Card race. They currently hold the third and final spot with a 69-68 record. Teams right behind them include the Baltimore Orioles at half a game out (69-69), then the Texas Rangers (68-70) and Blue Jays (68-70), both 1.5 games out, while their AL Central division rivals, the Minnesota Twins (66-72), are 3.5 games out. [/p][p]Outliers include the Seattle Mariners (64-74) at 5.5 games back and the Detroit Tigers (63-74) at six games back.[/p][infobox id="3e982646-21d3-4baf-ac34-10f731dff476" /]