Gavin Williams Strikes Out 12 as Guardians Complete Historic ALDS Comeback

Gavin Williams tied Cleveland’s postseason record with 12 strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings as the Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in Saturday night’s decisive ALDS Game 5, completing a historic comeback from a 2-0 series deficit.

Williams allowed one hit and two walks at Progressive Field, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning only two days after recording the final three outs of Cleveland’s Game 4 victory. José Ramírez supplied all the offense with a two-run homer in the fourth.

Williams answers the call on short recovery

After throwing 18 pitches in relief on Thursday, Williams asked manager Stephen Vogt for the ball in the winner-take-all game. The right-hander immediately erased any concern about his workload, striking out six batters through three innings and fanning the side in the fourth.

Williams faced one batter over the minimum through five innings. Kyle Teel ended the no-hit bid with a two-out single in the sixth, and a walk loaded the bases before Erik Sabrowski entered and struck out Munetaka Murakami to preserve the 2-0 lead.

The 12 strikeouts matched Charles Nagy’s Cleveland postseason record from Game 4 of the 1996 ALDS. Williams finished the series with 24 strikeouts across three appearances, one shy of Gerrit Cole’s Division Series record.

Ramírez turns a low curveball into the winning swing

Steven Kwan opened the bottom of the fourth with the game’s first hit. Ramírez then reached down for Sean Burke’s 78 mph curveball, driving it 348 feet just inside the right-field foul pole.

The pitch was only 0.74 feet above the ground, making it the lowest pitch hit for a postseason homer in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008. Ramírez homered in consecutive elimination games and drove in seven runs over the final three contests.

Cleveland’s staff sets a postseason strikeout record

Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith finished a combined three-hitter. Smith recorded the final five outs for his first postseason save, while Cleveland’s pitchers struck out 21 White Sox hitters—the most ever in a nine-inning postseason game.

The Guardians became only the fourth team to win a best-of-five postseason series after losing the first two games at home. Cleveland advances to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series, beginning Monday night in St. Petersburg.