Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Gavin Williams had 12 of a record 21 strikeouts by Cleveland pitchers, Jose Ramirez hit a go-ahead home run on a pitch just above home plate and the Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Saturday night to complete a comeback from an 0-2 deficit in their best-of-five AL Division Series.
Cleveland opens the AL Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking its first World Series trip since 2016. The Guardians franchise hasn’t won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.
Guardians pitchers set a record for strikeouts in a nine-inning postseason game and the most in any regular or postseason game since at least 1900. The White Sox got just three hits, put only nine balls in play and finished the series with 75 strikeouts and a .185 batting average.
CLEVELAND ROCKS! https://t.co/CCRZQnb7yG
—MLB
“It was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Just didn’t have what it would have took to move some balls forward there.”
Cleveland became just the 11th team to win a best-of-five series among the 96 that fell behind 0-2, the first since the 2017 New York Yankees against Cleveland and only the fourth to achieve the feat after losing the first two games at home.
Two days after saving Game 4, Williams became just the third pitcher in postseason history to get the last out of a game and start the following game when his team faced elimination in both.
He didn’t allow a hit until Kyle Teel looped a knuckle-curve into right field with two outs in the sixth, two innings after Ramirez homered for the second straight game, a two-run drive off Sean Burke.
After a walk loaded the bases, Erik Sabrowski of Edmonton relieved and struck out Munetaka Murakami on a foul tip, the pitcher letting out a yell.
Williams’ 12 strikeouts tied Cleveland’s record for a postseason game. He got 22 swings and misses, and his 24 strikeouts over three games were one shy of the mark for best-of-five postseason series.
“That was big-boy stuff today,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve seen other performances like that in the postseason, but to do it in this stage and these types of games facing three straight elimination and you have one of your starters say I will pitch whenever you need me to, super impressive.”
Canada’s Smith records 5-out save
Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and got four outs, and Cade Smith of Abbotsford, B.C., finished for his first career five-out save, striking out the side in the ninth. He blew a fastball by Tristan Peters of Winkler, Man., for the final out, setting off a celebration at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.
The Guardians erase an 0-2 series deficit and advance to the ALCS! #CLINCHED
(MLB x @BudweiserUSA) https://t.co/g0zCsmeMPB
—MLB
Chicago, the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, has not won the World Series since 2005.
Ramirez homered on a knuckle-curve 0.74 feet above ground, the lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run since tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast, and the lowest hit by Ramirez in his 14-year big league career.
Steven Kwan had singled leading off the fourth ahead of Ramirez’s sixth postseason homer, which went just over the wall near the right-field line.
Murakami and Andrew Benintendi struck out four times each, and Teel and Chase Meidroth three times apiece.
Up next
Tampa Bay went 5-1 against the Guardians, including a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field in July. It will be the third post-season meeting of the teams following the Rays’ win in the 2013 wild card game and the Guardians’ sweep in the 2022 Wild Card Series.