CLEVELAND — The Guardians were dead. At least, they were supposed to be.
After dropping the first two games of the ALDS at Progressive Field, Cleveland needed three straight wins to keep its season alive. The Guardians went to Chicago and won twice, came home for a winner-take-all Game 5, and finished the job Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over the White Sox.
Cleveland is going to the American League Championship Series.
And Gavin Williams was magnificent.
Just two days after coming out of the bullpen to record the final three outs of Cleveland’s Game 4 victory, Williams took the ball in Game 5 and overwhelmed Chicago. The right-hander carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit while striking out 12.
The White Sox finally threatened in the sixth. Colson Montgomery was hit by a pitch, Kyle Teel broke up the no-hitter with a single, and Miguel Vargas walked to load the bases with two outs.
Manager Stephen Vogt turned to Erik Sabrowski.
Sabrowski responded by striking out Munetaka Murakami to strand all three runners and preserve Cleveland’s 2-0 lead.
That lead came courtesy of the face of the franchise.
Steven Kwan opened the bottom of the fourth with a single before José Ramírez launched a two-run homer to right field off Sean Burke. In a winner-take-all postseason game dominated by pitching, one swing from Ramírez provided all the offense Cleveland would need.
The Guardians’ bullpen made sure it held up.
Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and struck out all four batters he retired over 1 1/3 innings before Cade Smith took over with one out in the eighth, where he stranded the inherited runner, and then stayed on for the ninth where he struck out Murakami, Andrew Benintendi, and Tristan Peters in order to finish the save, and the series.
The Guardians became just the 11th team in Major League history to overcome an 0-2 deficit and win a best-of-five postseason series. They are the first team to accomplish the comeback since the Yankees did it against Cleveland in 2017 and the first to lose the opening two games at home and still win the series since Toronto in 2015.
That makes the way Cleveland did it even sweeter.
The Guardians were shut out in Game 1 and fell 4-3 in Game 2, leaving themselves no margin for error. They responded by scoring nine runs in each of the next two games in Chicago before returning home and winning Game 5 with pitching, defense, and one swing from Ramírez.
From 0-2 to the ALCS.
Awesome.
What’s Next
The Guardians advance to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series. Game 1 is Monday night in Tampa Bay, with first pitch scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
