Tawa's bunt breaks up Williams' perfect game bid
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- Tim Tawa attempted to bunt in the 6th inning with Gavin Williams working on a perfect game; the bunt went foul, prompting catcher Patrick Bailey and shortstop Brayan Rocchio to confront him, and Tawa then singled on the very next pitch to end the no-hit bid.
- Third base coach Rouglas Odor exchanged words with Tawa during a subsequent rain delay, escalating into a benches-clearing brawl that featured yelling and mild shoving but no punches thrown.
- Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo defended the decision, saying they "all checked off on" the bunt attempt and that bunting in the sixth inning is "black or white" for him — acceptable.
- Gavin Williams refused to engage, saying after the game: "My job is to get outs, and that's what I'm trying to do" — and struck out 10 over 5⅔ innings for Cleveland's 5-0 win.
- Williams' start marked his fifth straight double-digit strikeout game — a streak matched only by Shohei Ohtani, who had six straight in 2022.
- The win improved the Guardians to 57-56 (third AL wild-card spot, three games behind the White Sox in the AL Central); the Diamondbacks slipped to 59-53 but hold the NL's second wild-card spot by one game.
Why it matters: This brawl crystallized baseball's unwritten-rules debate in a single at-bat: Diamondbacks manager Lovullo endorsed the bunt, Williams stayed above the fray, and the 5-0 final made the Guardians' objections look especially thin given both teams are clinging to wild-card spots and have every incentive to play to win.
