Halpin's Homer Lifts Guardians Past Rays for 2-1 ALCS Lead

The Cleveland Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on 15 Oct. in Cleveland to take a 2-1 lead. The Guardian The winner of the best-of-seven series moves on to the World Series.

Petey Halpin provided the swing. Batting ninth and starting in center field, the second-year outfielder hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning. It traveled 385 feet to right-center on a 2-2, 95.9-mph sinker from Griffin Jax and gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead it never lost.

It was Halpin's first postseason home run and only the fifth homer of his two-year major league career. He celebrated with a bat flip as the ball left the park.

Cleveland struck first. Nathaniel Lowe opened the scoring with an RBI double in the second inning. Tampa Bay answered in the fourth when Chandler Simpson lined a two-run triple, a hit that put the batter on third, to move ahead 2-1.

Gavin Williams made the lead stand up. The Cleveland right-hander allowed two runs and one walk over five innings, with nine strikeouts, and was credited with the win. ESPN He retired every batter the first time through the Rays order, striking out five of them.

What makes this stand out is how unlikely the hero was. Halpin entered as the last man in the lineup. Jax had not allowed a home run since 9 Sept., a span of five appearances.

Then the bullpen took over. Daniel Espino, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith allowed just one baserunner over the final four innings. Cleveland retired 16 of Tampa Bay's final 17 batters.

Smith earned a four-out save, which means finishing a close win. He stranded a runner at third in the eighth by striking out Yandy Díaz to end a 10-pitch at-bat, then retired the side in order in the ninth.

Tampa Bay went down in order in seven innings. Rays hitters struck out 13 times after combining for 14 strikeouts in the first two games. Junior Caminero struck out four times. José Ramírez had two hits for Cleveland and stole second base in the third.

The Guardians have now won five of their last six playoff games after falling behind the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in the Division Series. The Rays had tied this series with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night, powered by six scoreless innings from Freddy Peralta. Reuters

Game 4 in Cleveland was scheduled for Friday, with rain in the forecast.