CLEVELAND — Gavin Williams and José Ramírez delivered when the Cleveland Guardians needed them the most.
Williams had 12 of a record 21 strikeouts by Cleveland pitchers, Ramírez hit a two-run, go-ahead home run on a pitch just above home plate in the fourth inning 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.
AL Central champion 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 the Cleveland Indians and only the fourth to achieve the feat after losing the first two games at home.
“I’d say that the confidence that we have in this group has been really tested and refined over the course of the last two years," Guardians closer Cade Smith said. “As a group, we’ve dealt with some adversity and seen us come out on the other side of that and had success in spite of that. And that builds a quiet foundation of confidence to play from.”
The Guardians open the AL Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking their first World Series trip since 2016. Cleveland hasn’t won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.
It will be an ALCS matchup of small-payroll teams. Cleveland started the season with the lowest in the major leagues and the Rays were 26th.
Chicago, the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, won its first four postseason games, including a Wild Card Series sweep of Houston, then lost four in a row. The White Sox have not won the World Series since 2005.
“We are sitting in disappointment, and it hurts not to be able to advance," Chicago manager Will Venable said. "At the same time, you know, you do zoom out and look what this group accomplished and what they did to bring baseball back to White Sox and the pride back to the organization and then really the city.”
Record effort from Cleveland's staff
Guardians pitchers set a record for strikeouts in a nine-inning postseason game and the most in any nine-inning regular or postseason game since at least 1900. The White Sox got just three hits and put only nine balls in play.
“Our pitchers are incredible. We asked a ton of them this whole series,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “When you miss bats, they can’t get anything going. And they just shut them down, and that’s a really good offense over there.”
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.
The 27-year-old right-hander needed seven pitches in the first inning and struck out the side in the second and fifth.
“He can be that quiet guy, but he’s that silent killer. He’s going to go and do his best,” Ramírez said through an interpreter.
Chicago's only two baserunners came via a walk and hit by pitch until Kyle Teel looped a knuckle-curve into right field with two outs in the sixth.
“We got him out earlier than he wanted the other day — and he got us today. He was unbelievable and kept things out of the zone," Chicago second baseman Chase Meidroth said.
Williams had 24 strikeouts over three games, one shy of the mark for a best-of-five postseason series. His 12 Sunday tied Cleveland’s record for a postseason game set by Charles Nagy.
He got 22 swings and misses, throwing mostly curves and sweeps and firing 18 at 100 mph or higher Monday.
“I think that goes back to seeing them six or seven times now. And Patey (catcher Patrick Bailey) did a good job back there," Williams said. “He was reading swings the whole time.”
After a walk loaded the bases, Erik Sabrowski relieved and struck out Munetaka Murakami on a foul tip, the pitcher letting out a yell.
Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and got four outs, and Smith finished for his first career five-out save, striking out the side in the ninth. He got Tristan Peters to chase a 99.2 mph fastball for the final out, setting off a celebration at Progressive Field.
“It was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” Venable said. “Just didn’t have what it would have took to move some balls forward there.”
Murakami and Andrew Benintendi struck out four times each, and Teel and Chase Meidroth three times apiece.
Cleveland pitchers had a Division Series record 75 strikeouts and held Chicago to a .185 batting average. Smith and Gaddis became the 16th and 17th relievers to pitch in all five games of a Division Series.
Ramírez homers for second straight game
Chicago starter Sean Burke retired the first nine Cleveland hitters before Steven Kwan singled leading off the fourth.
On the fifth pitch of his at-bat, Ramírez lined Burke's knuckle-curve just over the wall near the right-field line for a 2-0 lead.
“In that AB, I was looking for a curveball for strike. So I was able to get my legs and get a good contact,” Ramírez said through an interpreter.
Ramírez homered on a pitch 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.
“When he hit it, I was kind of wishing it away from Peters and then it snuck out,” Vogt said. “I mean, to go down and get that, to be able to get through that, that takes some power, that takes some strength."
Up next
Tampa Bay went 5-1 against the Guardians, including three shutouts. It will be the third postseason meeting of the teams following the Rays' win in the 2013 wild card game and the Guardians' sweep in the 2022 Wild Card Series.
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