Petey Halpin gave the Guardians the jolt they needed Thursday, turning a tight Game 3 into a 3-2 win over the Rays and sending Cleveland ahead 2-1 in the American League Championship Series.
Halpin’s two-run homer in the fifth inning proved to be the difference, and the Guardians now sit two wins from reaching the World Series for the first time since 2016. Game 4 is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Progressive Field.
The homer capped a strong team effort. Gavin Williams worked five innings to earn his second postseason win, and the bullpen piecework behind him held together from there. Daniel Espino, Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis bridged the game to Cade Smith, who closed it out by retiring the final four hitters for his second save of the postseason.
Cleveland opened the scoring in the second. Nathaniel Lowe doubled home Jo Adell, who had started the inning with a walk and made it all the way around on Lowe’s drive into the right field corner. Travis Bazzana advanced Lowe to third with a groundout, but the Guardians couldn’t cash him in from there as Patrick Bailey grounded out and Halpin flied to left.
The Rays answered in the fourth after Williams had rolled through the first nine outs. Yandy Diaz doubled to start the inning, and after Williams struck out Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero, he issued a walk to Victor Mesa Jr.
That opened the door for Chandler Simpson, who lined a 1-2 sweeper into the right field corner for a triple and a 2-1 Tampa Bay lead. Williams responded by striking out Liam Hicks to keep the damage there, but Simpson’s hit had already shifted the mood inside Progressive Field.
Cleveland went right back to work in the fifth against Griffin Jax, a familiar face from his Twins days who was making his 28th appearance against the Guardians and carried a 2.19 ERA at Progressive Field. Jax had been sharp through four, but the inning unraveled after Bailey opened with a high chopper that dropped behind the mound. Halpin followed by launching a 385-foot shot into the right field seats for a 3-2 lead.
After the blast, Halpin’s first postseason homer came with what the game story described as the highest bat flip of the season, unofficially speaking, before he started his trot around the bases. Brayan Rocchio singled to chase Jax, but the inning lost some momentum when Rocchio was thrown out trying to steal second. Steven Kwan then popped up, and Jose Ramirez added his second hit of the game.
The biggest defensive stand came in the eighth. Smith entered with two outs and struck out Yandy Diaz, who had started his career with Cleveland, with the tying run on third after a 10-pitch battle. That strikeout sent the crowd of more than 30,000 into a roar that sounded much bigger.
Williams finished with two runs allowed on two hits over five innings. He struck out nine, walked one and threw 70 pitches.
Espino again handled the top of Tampa Bay’s order cleanly. He did the same thing in Game 1, and on Thursday he retired Diaz on a fly ball, Aranda on a foul pop and Caminero on a strikeout in the sixth. That trio had combined for 86 home runs in the regular season, including 42 from Caminero.
Attendance was listed at 30,101, with the change in first pitch from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. because of the threat of bad weather likely playing a part. The game was played in sunshine and brisk temperatures.
Game 4 remains on the schedule for Friday at 6 p.m., with neither club announcing a starter yet. TBS, truTV, HBO Max and UniMas will televise it, and WTAM/1100, WMMS 100.7 FM, WARF, ESPN, TUDN and the Guardians Radio Network will carry it on the air.
In Other News...
Guardians' Most Painful Trade Looks Even Worse After New Report
The 2021 swap that sent Junior Caminero from Cleveland to Tampa Bay has long lingered as one of the organizations toughest second guesses, and fresh reporting only adds another layer to the regret. The Guardians moved the then-rising prospect for pitcher Tobias Myers, a deal made with the hope of solving a pitching need while parting with a young hitter who was still far from the majors.
Now the sting is not just what Cleveland gave up, but how close the Rays came to asking for something else from the system before settling on Caminero. Xzavion Curry was among the minor leaguers Tampa Bay initially sought, and the fact that Caminero has developed into a top prospect while Myers and Curry have had quieter big league careers makes the trade look even harder to defend in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Schedule Change Created An Unusual MLB Playoff Ripple
MLBs postseason calendar picked up an odd little domino effect Wednesday, with the league moving Game 4 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers up an hour to 8 p.m. ET. The change did not come out of nowhere. It followed the earlier decision to shift ALCS Game 3 between the Guardians and Rays from 6 p.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET because of expected inclement weather, a reminder of how one playoff adjustment can ripple across the rest of the bracket.
For Cleveland fans, the practical part is simple: the team confirmed that tickets and parking passes will still work for the new start time. The bigger picture is a postseason schedule that can still bend quickly around weather, TV and the rest of the leagues needs, even as the Guardians try to stay focused on the field rather than the clock. [Read more 🡒]
Gavin Williams Is Giving Guardians Fans Another Reason To Believe
Gavin Williams has already done his share to fuel Clevelands October run, and now he is looking to add something else to the mix as the Guardians head into the next round. The young starting pitcher said he wants to be a more vocal leader as the club prepares for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, a sign of how quickly he has grown from power arm to one of the voices in the room.
Williams backed up that confidence with his latest outing, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in the series-clinching win over the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland now turns to a Game 3 matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays, set for 1 PM ET Thursday after a weather-related delay from the original 6 PM start, and the Guardians will be hoping their emerging starter brings the same edge both on the mound and in the clubhouse. [Read more 🡒]