CLEVELAND (AP) — Gavin Williams struck out 12, José Ramírez homered on a pitch just above home plate and the Cleveland 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/Indians franchise hasn’t won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.
Guardians pitchers struck out 21, the most in a nine-inning postseason game. The White Sox got just three hits, put only nine balls in play and struck out 75 times over the series.
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 Ramírez homered for the second straight game, a two-run drive off Sean Burke.
After a walk loaded the bases, Erik Sabrowski 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 tied for second-most in a best-of-five postseason series.
Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and got four outs, and Cade Smith finished for his first career five-out save, striking out the side in the ninth. He blew a fastball by Tristan Peters for the final out, setting off a celebration at Progressive Field.
Chicago, the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, has not won the World Series since 2004.
Ramírez 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 Ramírez'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.
Tampa Bay went 5-1 against the Guardians, including a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field in July. 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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