Progressive Field was a damn madhouse Saturday night, some 34,000 Cleveland Guardians fans feeling the urgency only a winner-take-all Game 5 can produce.
On the field, though, four games of chaos gave way to calm. Four games of uncertainty gave way to the Guardians’ return to normalcy, as they know it.
Gavin Williams, untouchable.
José Ramírez, unstoppable.
A bullpen beaten up by the Chicago White Sox in this American League Division Series once again on point. And the Guardians, back in the AL Championship Series for the second time in three seasons.
Their 2-0 suppression of the surprise White Sox capped an arrythmic and at times ugly five games between Central rivals and bought them a ticket to Tampa Bay, where they’ll take on the heavily-favored
Rays in the ALCS beginning Monday in St. Petersburg.
Heavily-favored, because these Guardians fell into a 2-0 ALDS hole, crawled back to square things thanks to an ugly Game 4 win in which both teams combined to walk 15 batters, and then advanced by using every ounce of its pitching staff to survive Chicago.
In Game 5, that meant burning Williams, their ace who tied for the AL lead in strikeouts.
It was well worth it.
Williams produced one of the most dominant performances in Cleveland playoff history, striking out 12 to tie Charles Nagy for most punchouts in a postseason game. Combined with his 11 strikeouts in five innings of Game 2 (the Guardians bullpen blew that one) and another strikeout in his one inning to finish Game 4 (yep, it’s been that kind of series) Williams struck out 24 in 11 ⅔ innings.
That’s the kind of dominance needed in this modern game of keeping the ball out of play at all costs, even if your starter can only go five or six innings.
The White Sox nearly played that game to perfection in Game 5, too. But they had to contend with Ramírez.
One of the greatest players in Cleveland baseball history was the difference in this game. The White Sox trotted out their lone normal, well-adjusted starting pitcher in Sean Burke, who this time would need no opener.
Instead, he largely carved the Guardians up for five innings, walking none, striking out four and delivering a well-executed 2-2 knuckle curve to Ramírez in the bottom of the fourth.
But this is one of the greatest hitters we’ve ever seen. And Ramírez went down and got the pitch, which came in barely an inch above the dirt, and clubbed it. Just high enough, just far enough, just over the right field fence at Progressive, a hitting artist in his own studio.
Suddenly, what moments earlier was a dual no-hitter became a 2-0 Guardians lead. Ramírez responded to the crowd with a pop out of the dugout that was half curtain call, half exhortation. The roar was so loud it drowned out the “Country Roads” salute that Chase DeLauter, the next batter, walks up to.
It was appropriate. Ramírez was a shell of himself this season, falling victim to the hamate injury that was for whatever reason particularly endemic this year. Yet once the Guardians salted away the division title, Ramírez could rest and enjoy the first-round bye.
He looks like a different guy already.
Ramírez also ripped a go-ahead, two-run home run in Game 4, this one off flamethrower Jordan Hicks. That ball? It was nearly at his eyes, up and away in the strike zone, coming in at 99.9 mph.
Two games, two swings, two entirely different pitches, and the same, series-turning result.
The Guardians may not have the dynamic, top-to-bottom dangerous lineup the Rays will bring to the ALCS. But they will have Ramírez, who will aim for a World Series return a decade after his Cleveland squad came up just short in 2016.
It might not be enough. The Guardians bullpen is pretty well cooked, too, with peerless closer Cade Smith forced to go multiple innings in Games 4 and 5. He pitched in all five ALDS games and his returns might diminish further in the ALCS.
But in this decisive Game 5 that affirmed the Guardians as a postseason problem, following Ramírez’s lead certainly sufficed.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guardians' epic comeback complete behind José Ramírez heroics vs. White Sox
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