The Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Saturday night, Oct. 10, at Progressive Field. The win completed a comeback from a 0-2 deficit, meaning the Guardians lost the first two games of the best-of-five series and then won the last three. Cleveland now plays the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series, with Game 1 on Monday, Oct. 12.
Both Cleveland runs came on one swing, a two-run homer by José Ramírez in the fourth inning, and four Guardians pitchers struck out 21 White Sox batters.
What the win means
A division series is a best-of-five, so the first team to win three games advances. Game 5 is winner-take-all: the loser’s season is over. MLB.com reported that Cleveland was the first team to erase an 0-2 Division Series deficit since the 2017 Yankees.
The series so far
Cleveland hosted Games 1, 2 and 5 at Progressive Field. The White Sox’s home park, Rate Field in Chicago, hosted Games 3 and 4. The White Sox took the first two games, then lost the next three. ESPN, the Chicago Sun-Times and MLB.com reported these scores for the first four games:
- Game 1, Saturday, Oct. 3: White Sox 3, Guardians 0
- Game 2, Monday, Oct. 5: White Sox 4, Guardians 3
- Game 3, Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Rate Field: Guardians 9, White Sox 3
- Game 4, Thursday, Oct. 8, at Rate Field: Guardians 9, White Sox 5
- Game 5, Saturday, Oct. 10, at Progressive Field: Guardians 2, White Sox 0
In Game 4, Gavin Williams, normally a starter, made his first career relief appearance, throwing 18 pitches to finish the ninth inning. Two days later he started Game 5.
How the game went
The first three innings had no hits for either team. The only White Sox base runner in that stretch was Tristan Peters, who walked in the second, and Williams struck out six batters in those three innings, according to MLB.com.
Williams struck out the side in the top of the fourth. Then Cleveland broke through in the bottom half. Steven Kwan led off with a single against Chicago starter Sean Burke, according to Yahoo Sports. Ramírez then worked a five-pitch at-bat and hit a line drive to right field for a two-run homer. CBS Sports said it was the lowest pitch Ramírez has ever homered on, and MLB.com described the pitch as well below the strike zone. The two runs were all the scoring in the game.
Williams struck out two more in the fifth, which put him at 11 strikeouts through five innings, according to ESPN and MLB.com. In the sixth, Kyle Teel singled with two outs, the first hit Williams allowed. Williams then hit Colson Montgomery with a pitch and walked Miguel Vargas, which loaded the bases. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt brought in Erik Sabrowski, who struck out Munetaka Murakami to end the inning. Sabrowski was credited with a hold, which is a statistic for a reliever who enters in a save situation, records at least one out and hands the lead on without finishing the game. The box score gives Williams a 12th strikeout in the sixth.
Hunter Gaddis took over for the seventh and also got a hold. Chicago’s third hit of the game came in the eighth, and Cade Smith took over with a runner on and got the last two outs of that inning.
Cleveland had a chance to add on in the bottom of the eighth. Petey Halpin led off with a double. Chicago brought in Grant Taylor, and the Guardians eventually loaded the bases after Kwan walked and Taylor intentionally walked Ramírez. An intentional walk is a free pass the defense chooses to give to avoid pitching to a dangerous hitter. Chase DeLauter then hit a ground ball that forced Halpin out at home, which is a force out, an out made by getting the ball to a base or home plate before a runner who has to move there. Jo Adell grounded out. Cleveland left three runners on base and did not score.
That left the ninth to Smith, who struck out Murakami, Andrew Benintendi and Peters, all swinging, to end the game. He was credited with the save, a statistic for the pitcher who finishes a close win under certain conditions.
The numbers
According to the MLB box score, Williams pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed one hit and no runs. He walked two, hit one batter and struck out 12 on 94 pitches. MLB.com reported that Williams tied a franchise postseason record set by Charles Nagy in Game 4 of the 1996 Division Series.
Williams’s 12, plus one from Sabrowski, four from Gaddis and four from Smith, gave the Guardians’ pitchers 21 strikeouts. MLB.com said that was an all-time record for a regular-season or postseason nine-inning game, and ESPN Research called it a record for a winner-take-all postseason game.
Burke took the loss. He pitched five innings, gave up four hits and two runs, walked no one and struck out four on 71 pitches. Sean Newcomb followed with two scoreless innings, and Taylor pitched the eighth, entering with a runner on second.
Chicago batters struck out 21 times as well. Murakami and Benintendi each struck out four times. Teel struck out three times, as did Chase Meidroth. The White Sox had three hits in the game, all singles, according to Yahoo Sports.
The game also used baseball’s automated ball-strike challenge system, known as ABS. The batter, pitcher or catcher can challenge a ball or strike call, and a computer system rules on it. Confirmed means the original call stood; overturned means it was changed. In Game 5, Cleveland catcher Patrick Bailey challenged twice and both calls were confirmed. White Sox catcher Teel won a challenge that turned a ball into a strike. The White Sox’s Vargas won one that turned a strike into a ball. A challenge by the White Sox’s Peters was confirmed as a strike.
Reaction
MLB.com reported that Vogt said Williams knows who he is as a pitcher now and believes in that, and, in a separate MLB.com report, said of Ramírez that he is Cleveland. Ramírez had gone hitless in six at-bats in the first two games, then had five hits in 12 at-bats with seven runs batted in, meaning runs that scored because of his at-bats, over Games 3 through 5, according to MLB.com.
On the Chicago side, the Sun-Times and MLB.com reported that Mike Vasil, Chase Meidroth, Colson Montgomery, Sean Burke and Munetaka Murakami talked about how much the season had meant and how the team expected to return. Vasil said the team would be back, and Meidroth said the team had not wanted the season to end.
The White Sox season
Chicago finished the regular season 84-78, one game behind Cleveland for the AL Central title. As the No. 6 seed, the White Sox swept Houston in the Wild Card Series to reach the Division Series.
Their 75 strikeouts in the series were a Division Series record, according to MLB.com and CBS Sports. The White Sox led the American League in runs scored, with 776, and in walks, with 589, during the regular season.
The Guardians season
Cleveland finished 85-77 and won the AL Central for the third straight year, by one game over Chicago, according to ESPN and CBS Sports. CBS reported that the White Sox led the division on Aug. 16. From that date on, CBS said, Cleveland went 25-12, the best record in the American League over that span, and the White Sox went 19-20. Cleveland took first place for good on Sept. 16.
Ramírez hit .235 in the regular season, according to CBS Sports. He had surgery in June on his hamate, a small bone in the hand, and missed about six weeks, according to MLB.com and CBS Sports.
What comes next
The Guardians open the ALCS at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday, Oct. 12. MLB.com listed the game at 8 p.m. EDT, with broadcasts on TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max. MLB.com also reported that the Rays swept the Yankees in their Division Series.
CBS Sports reported that Parker Messick and Williams are slated to start Games 2 and 3. Foster Griffin could start Game 1, though Cleveland could also use a bullpen game, which is a game started by relievers instead of a traditional starter. CBS also noted that closer Smith, the pitcher who usually finishes close games, and setup man Gaddis, who usually pitches just before the closer, each pitched in three of the previous five days.
The National League Championship Series pairs the Dodgers and the Brewers, with Game 1 on Sunday, Oct. 11. The winner of the ALCS will face the winner of the NLCS in the World Series.
What remains open
Who starts Game 1 for Cleveland is not stated; CBS said Griffin could start or the Guardians could use a bullpen game. The Rays had not reported their Game 1 starter in the coverage available Sunday morning. How much work Smith and Gaddis can handle in the ALCS after pitching in three of the previous five days is also not stated.