Definitely the best outing of the year to date for Williams. He did hold the White Sox to one run 11 days ago, but it was the White Sox and he threw only five innings then. Williams topped out at 99.6 mph, struck out eight and produced 21 whiffs tonight. He’ll take a 2-1 record and a 4.15 ERA into his next start versus the Red Sox.

The early season woes continued for Williams who again did not have his best stuff in this one. Truthfully, he was lucky to get out of this outing with just those four runs. Ironically, all four of those runs came on one swing when Jackson Holiday blasted a grand slam. Otherwise, the Orioles made 12 hard-hit outs and Williams did not have many solutions as they attacked him all game. Baltimore stacked their lineup with six of nine left-handed batters and Williams’ response was a heavy dose of fastballs, which forced just three swings-and-misses. Past that, he tried to sneak some sweepers by them too so as to not get predictable with just his fastball and curveball. Most sweepers were noncompetitive and Holliday’s home run came on the only one that actually wound up in the zone through his first five innings of work. Things will not get easier for him either, as he’s scheduled to face the Yankees next time out.

That’s now back-to-back inefficient starts by Williams to start his season. He faced 18 batters in his three innings of work and never looked comfortable on the mound. Walks were pervasive and it felt like he was battling in every at-bat. His stuff was still excellent and will always be his saving grace, but Williams needs to find a way to be less predictable as it became clear he was starting all of his at-bats with fastballs before trying to put hitters away with sweepers. He has a golden opportunity to get back on track in his next scheduled start against the lowly White Sox.