cadillacnews
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians punched their ticket to the AL Championship Series with a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night, completing a comeback from an 0-2 hole in their best-of-five AL Division Series. Cleveland pitchers combined for a postseason-record 21 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, the most in any major league game since at least 1900, according to MLB research.
Gavin Williams, who had saved Game 4 two days earlier, recorded 12 of those strikeouts as the Guardians advanced to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS starting Monday night in Tampa. Cleveland is seeking its first World Series appearance since 2016 and its first championship since 1948, the longest title drought in MLB.
The White Sox managed just three hits and put only nine balls in play all night. Chicago finished the series with 75 strikeouts and a .185 batting average.
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"It was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone," White Sox manager Will Venable said. "Just didn't have what it would have took to move some balls forward there."
Cleveland became just the 11th team in MLB history to win a best-of-five series after falling behind 0-2, out of 96 teams that faced such a deficit. The Guardians are the first to accomplish the feat since the 2017 New York Yankees against the Indians, and only the fourth to do so after losing the first two games at home.
Williams made history by becoming just the third pitcher in postseason history to record the final out of a game and then start the next game with his team facing elimination in both. He did not allow a hit until Kyle Teel looped a knuckle-curve into right field with two outs in the sixth inning.
José Ramírez had given Cleveland the lead two innings earlier with a two-run homer off Sean Burke. The drive came on a knuckle-curve that was 0.74 feet above the ground, the lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run since Statcast tracking began in 2008 and the lowest of Ramírez's 14-year career. Steven Kwan had singled leading off the fourth ahead of Ramírez's sixth postseason homer, which just cleared the wall near the right-field line.
After a walk loaded the bases in the sixth, Erik Sabrowski relieved Williams and struck out Munetaka Murakami on a foul tip, punctuating the moment with a yell. Williams' 12 strikeouts tied a Cleveland postseason record, and he generated 22 swings and misses. His 24 strikeouts over three games were one shy of the record for a best-of-five postseason series.
"That was big-boy stuff today," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "We've seen other performances like that in the postseason, but to do it in this stage and these types of games facing three straight elimination and you have one of your starters say I will pitch whenever you need me to, super impressive."
Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and recorded 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, which became the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, has not won the World Series since 2005. Murakami and Andrew Benintendi each struck out four times, while Teel and Chase Meidroth struck out three times apiece.
Tampa Bay went 5-1 against Cleveland during the regular season, including three shutouts. The upcoming ALCS will be the third postseason meeting between the clubs, following the Rays' win in the 2013 wild card game and the Guardians' sweep in the 2022 Wild Card Series.
Originally reported by cadillacnews.