Go-ahead HR from unlikely source flips ALCS back in Guardians’ favor

CLEVELAND -- 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.

“If it wasn't me, it was going to be somebody else,” Halpin said, showing that mentality teammates love about him. “I’m just having that faith and having that trust that somebody's going to get the job done and it takes kind of some pressure off of you. I'm like, if I don't do it, somebody else will.”

This isn’t where the Rays are used to being. It’s not where any of us expected them to be, either.

Tampa Bay led the American League with 98 wins this season and swept the Yankees without even breaking a sweat in the ALDS. Now, they’re staring down Game 4 and Game 5 in Cleveland, facing a Guardians team loaded with momentum and a raucous home crowd.

“Look, we got a hit,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “We went into the game, we knew we had our challenges. But look up, two runs on two hits. You gotta be perfect to win games like that. I'm not saying you can't, but ideally, we start getting some bigger at-bats going and piecing together a really talented offensive club all season long. And [I’m] very confident that they'll bounce right back and be ready to go tomorrow.”

The Rays were fortunate to scrape across two runs against Williams on a Chandler Simpson triple into the right-field corner, but they’re still waiting on their big bats to change this series. That spotlight on Junior Caminero is growing even brighter now, waiting for the young superstar to step up with his first career postseason home run.

“We have to make adjustments. That’s plain and simple,” Caminero said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “The pitches that they throw are the same pitches that the other 29 teams throw across the league. We just have to make our adjustments, and we have to be smart about how we do that. We have to play our baseball and move forward.”

Facing Williams, though, Caminero and the Rays barely stood a chance. The breakout star of the 2026 postseason is on another planet right now. He struck out nine Rays batters over his five innings, giving Williams a whopping 33 Ks over 16 2/3 innings. His postseason strikeout percentage (45.9%) is the highest in MLB history among pitchers who have thrown 10 or more innings, ahead of Corey Knebel (44.6%).

“The punchouts are cool, but I think there's a bigger goal than just the punchouts,” Williams said, still hyperfocused after the win. “I think it's more about trying to help the team win and giving them the best possible shot throughout the game to get the win.”

That’s what he keeps doing. From his incredible relief appearance in Game 4 of the ALDS to his win in Game 5 and this performance against the Rays, there may not be a more important player in this series than Williams. Now, the Guardians want to wrap this up before he even needs to pitch again.

Game 4 is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. ET, but with more rain in the forecast, both teams will be preparing backup plans in case there is another scheduling change. In all best-of-seven postseason series tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to win the series 71 of 102 times (70%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams that have won Game 3 at home to take a 2-1 lead have gone on to win the series 30 of 49 times (61%).

Both teams would obviously love to stick to their own schedules, but the Guardians think they could play these games at five o’clock in the morning and still pack Progressive Field. It’s one of their biggest advantages, with player after player pointing to the momentum that feeds them.

“The crowd was unbelievable,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Really appreciate everybody changing their work schedules and moving things around to be here to support us because we feed off of our fans. It was a great crowd. We didn't know what to expect. Obviously, people have a life, and we understand that. So, to see that many fans show up at 1:00 on a Thursday, I think that's huge for us.”

That’s what the Rays are up against now. The Guardians have won five of their last six games, dating back to their comeback from being down 0-2 to the White Sox in the ALDS.

The Rays have been the American League’s best team in 2026, but the Guardians have been the AL’s best team this week, and in the ALCS, that’s all that matters.