Player of the gameGavin WilliamsCLE5.0ip 2h 2er 1bb 9k
The Guardians are two wins away from the World Series, setting up a shot to potentially punch their ticket this weekend at home. Their 3-2 win over the Rays in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday came just how they drew it up, built on the back of another brilliant performance by Gavin Williams with one big swing from Petey Halpin, two new Cleveland heroes. There wasn’t much work getting done in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon, either. Even after the game was moved up from 6 p.m. ET to a 1 p.m. first pitch, Guardians fans packed Progressive Field and were on top of the Rays all afternoon. When Halpin’s go-ahead, two-run shot left his bat in the bottom of the fifth, the stadium was shaking underneath them. The only person who enjoyed watching that ball fly more than the Guardians’ fans was Halpin himself. After turning on the 96 mph sinker from Griffin Jax, Halpin shuffled backwards out of the box, all the way to the edge of the dirt before he started to jog up the line. When the ball crashed down into the right-field bleachers, Halpin launched his bat into the air, twirling twenty feet above him like a windmill.
