Guardians start Gavin Williams vs. Rays' Griffin Jax on Thu. - ESPN

CLEVELAND — Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams, who threw 210 pitches over six days against the Chicago White Sox, will start Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, the club announced.

Williams, who will take the ball opposite Tampa Bay right-hander Griffin Jax, threw 11⅔ innings over three appearances in the AL Division Series against the Chicago White Sox.

He pitched five innings in Game 2 of that series before throwing 18 pitches in an inning out of the bullpen in Game 4 on two days' rest. Two days later, he posted 12 strikeouts over 5⅔ innings in Game 5 as Cleveland came back from an 0-2 deficit to advance to the ALCS.

«I feel like that was kind of a normal workload for me, except throwing in the game for my pen session,» Williams said. «But nothing really. Body feels good. Arm feels good. And going to go out there tomorrow.»

Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said Williams threw a bullpen Tuesday in Tampa Bay before the club settled on him starting Game 3.

«We just wanted to see how he responded to the workload to determine when the best time for him to pitch in the series would be,» Antonetti said.

Williams, 27, finished the regular season with a 3.76 ERA and an AL-leading 248 strikeouts in 184⅓ innings over 32 starts. He will take the mound Thursday earlier than expected after Major League Baseball moved the start time for Game 3 up from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET with rain in the forecast for Northeast Ohio later in the day.

The change could benefit Williams if the regular season is any indication; he had a 4.82 ERA in 19 night starts and a 2.42 ERA in 13 day starts.

«I feel like I'm very routine-oriented,» Williams said. «I wake up about the