CLEVELAND — Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Gavin Williams struck out a franchise postseason-record-tying 12, leading the Cleveland Guardians to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox in the decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Saturday night.
Cleveland became the fourth team to win a best-of-five postseason series after losing the first two games at home.
Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith joined Williams in a combined three-hitter for the Guardians, who will meet the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Championship Series starting Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“This was a difficult year, and for us to be one step away from the World Series, our ultimate goal, this is really exciting,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
Chicago struck out 21 times, the most in major league history for a nine-inning postseason game. That broke the record of 19 the White Sox set in their Game 3 loss on Wednesday.
“We’re all bummed and sad, knowing we probably should have got the job done,” White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery said after the loss.
Ramirez sent starter Sean Burke’s knuckle curve 348 feet over the right field wall, scoring Steven Kwan, who led off the fourth with the game’s first hit. The 78 mph pitch was well below the strike zone, but Ramirez golfed it inside the foul pole, giving him seven RBIs over the final three games of the series.
”Jose is Jose, we all love him. He always has that one moment all the time,” Williams said. “We know what he’s going to do.”
“Obviously, it came down to one pitch to Ramirez,” Burke added. “He’s a really good player. He’s probably going to be in the Hall of Fame someday. But it’s frustrating.”
Williams (1-0) carried a no-hitter into the sixth — two days after recording the final three outs in Game 4 — before Kyle Teel laced a two-out single. Williams, who had hit Colson Montgomery to open the sixth, walked Miguel Vargas after Teel’s hit. Sabrowski entered and struck out Munetaka Murakami to end the inning.
Williams worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and walking two. The right-hander’s 24 strikeouts over three appearances were one shy of the Division Series record set by Gerrit Cole of the Houston Astros in 2019.
Williams matched the Cleveland single-game postseason record of 12 strikeouts, set by Charles Nagy in the 1996 ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles. Williams owns two of the five double-digit strikeout performances in team playoff history.
“It’s pretty satisfying,” Williams said. “No matter what point (of the postseason) it is, it’s always fun. And just being able to celebrate with the guys, it’s a dream come true.”
Burke (1-1) allowed two runs on four hits over five innings, striking out four.
Smith, who pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for his first save of the postseason, and Gaddis appeared in all five games.
“Our back end of the bullpen has been the lifeblood of this team since I’ve been here,” Vogt said. “They have the highest leverage. They have the toughest outs to get. And Eric came in, you just felt like he was going to do what he did.”
–Brian Dulik, Field Level Media
