Guardians: Gavin Williams takes no-hitter into the sixth inning in win over Angels

CLEVELAND — The good news for Gavin Williams on Sunday? He didn't give up a home run on his first pitch. The even better news? He didn't give up any home runs at all. In fact, he didn't give up a hit of any kind until the sixth inning in leading the Guardians to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Progressive Field. Williams, who has been tagged for home runs on his first pitch three times this season, had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings until Zach Neto's single to right field in the sixth inning. Williams ended up allowing two unearned runs with two walks and six strikeouts. It was the first time in 44 major league starts that the 25-year old right-hander had not allowed a hit through five innings and the fans showed their appreciation with an ovation as he left the field. Not that Williams was thinking much about any adoration directed his way. "I was more worried about being more efficient rather than looking up in the crowd," said Williams(5-3), who improved to 5-3. "I was kind of mad at myself that I didn't go seven more than anything." Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, however, found little in Williams' outing to be "mad" about. "I think that was the best I've ever seen Gavin look," he said. "He was more efficient. He was getting ahead a lot, staying ahead, getting to two strikes, getting some weak contact. Obviously, seven innings is solid for anybody." The offense came through, too, scoring a run in the third inning and three in the fourth. José Ramírez extended Cleveland's lead to 2-0 when he connected on a slider from Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz (3-7) and put it into the stands in right-center for his team-leading 11th homer to open the fourth. Nolan Jones added a two-run single with the bases loaded for the other runs in the inning as the Guardians took two of three games in the weekend series. Ramírez has an on-base streak of 28 games. He's batting .394 (43-for-109) with six home runs, 15 RBIs and a 1.115 OPS since it began April 30. But Jones' day, he went 2-for-3, was the really encouraging news for the team and for him since he's been hitting the ball hard but seeing few positive results. "When you get a couple to fall it definitely feels good," said Jones, who is hitting .214. "Takes some of the weight off your shoulders." He's hoping he's found the secret to coming out of his slump. "I think I started trying less hard," he said, noting that he had been watching videos nightly trying to discover any flaws in his swing. Finally, after his fiancee had had enough of that, he decided not to obsess about it so much. "When it's not going well it's easy to nitpick and try to find what's going wrong," he said. Vogt said that's only natural. "Every hitter stresses," he said. "I don't care how much time you have, I don't care how long you've been around, you're pressing when you're not hitting, so Nolan's no different." Thanks to Williams, it was a fairly stress-free Sunday for the Guardians even though Angels slugger Mike Trout, who was not in the starting lineup, delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning as the Angels cut the lead to 4-2. But the bullpen shut things down from there with Emmanuel Clase retiring the Angels in order in the ninth for his 13th save. "It seems like it pops up and he has one like this," Vogt said of Williams' performance. "Now it's string it together. Come right back the next time out with the same efficiency and the same attack. But it was really encouraging." Up next GUARDIANS: Open a three-game series in New York against the Yankees on Tuesday with right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-5, 3.86 ERA) getting the start. ANGELS: Continue their road trip with a three-game set in Boston. Left-hander Tyler Anderson (2-2, 3.39 ERA) takes the mound Monday.