Gavin Williams had already thrown a career-high 111 pitches through the first eight innings of the Cleveland Guardians’ game against the New York Mets on Aug. 6, but he trotted to the mound looking to complete MLB’s first no-hitter of the 2025 season.
“When I went out for the ninth, if it took me 150 pitches to try and get a no-hitter done, that’s what I would’ve done,” Williams said in an interview with Foul Territory TV’s Scott Braun and Trevor May on Friday. “The velo was still there, as everyone sees.”
He would have to accomplish the feat the hard way, though, by finding his way through the heart of the Mets’ order — Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso — for the fourth time that afternoon.
Williams’ first pitch to Lindor crossed the plate well outside the strike zone for ball one. Lindor fouled off the next two pitches before swinging and missing at a curveball down and inside.
The next at bat also began with a ball — this time, one that bounced off home plate. Now behind in the count, Williams threw an outside fastball that landed in the middle of the zone.
Soto’s bat connected with the ball, and despite Guardians center fielder Angel Martínez’s best efforts, launched it over the center-field fence for a home run that ended both Williams’ no-hit and shutout bids.
“Obviously, Soto, left it up just a little over the plate for him, and he took a good swing,” Williams said. “It was nice getting a refresher after he hit that, and [Guardians pitching coach] Carl [Willis] coming out and giving me a little break, trying to get two outs after that.”
Williams, unfortunately, did not get those final two outs. He got Alonso to fly out, but after allowing a six-pitch walk to Brandon Nimmo, Guardians manager Steven Vogt emerged from the dugout to make a pitching change.
Cleveland, with Hunter Gaddis on the mound, would go on to claim a 4-1 victory after Mark Vientos flied out to center field. Williams still finished the contest with a strong stat line: 8.2 innings pitched, one hit, one earned run, four walks, six strikeouts and 126 pitches thrown, including 75 for strikes.
Reflecting on the performance, Williams said his cutter and sinker were among the strongest pitches he threw that day.
“The cutter wasn’t there as much as I’ve had in the past, but I threw it to get them off balance. And then, throwing the sinker to lefties and righties — which, that was the first time I threw it both to righties and lefties — to get them off the heater,” Williams said. “I know in the past I threw, I guess, 50% heaters in games, so being able to get the guys off the heater is big.”
He added that, even though the end result didn’t turn out exactly how he may have wanted, finding himself two outs away from a no-hitter was an experience he won’t soon forget.
“It was just a surreal moment,” Williams said. “[It] doesn’t really happen that often. And being able to get in that position and stay in that position throughout the whole game in a good lineup, it was phenomenal.”
