Petey Halpin hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth inning on Thursday, and the Guardians beat the Rays 3-2 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS, per ESPN and Yahoo Sports. MLB.com's Keegan Matheson led with the swing and with what he called a bigger bat flip. We don't have the full articles, so we can't describe the flip beyond that.
The box score shows how the game went. Cleveland scored first, with Nathaniel Lowe driving in a run in the second. Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, when Chandler Simpson's triple drove in two. Cleveland's fifth began with that deficit and ended with Halpin's homer, which Yahoo described as the swing that made it 3-2. The Guardians had four hits in the inning and none after it.
The bullpen then protected the lead. Gavin Williams struck out nine over five innings and got the win. Daniel Espino, Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis covered the middle innings, and Cade Smith got the last four outs for the save. Cleveland's pitchers struck out 13 Rays, and Griffin Jax took the loss. Ramirez was 2-for-3 with a walk and a steal. Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling spoke with him afterward, and the clip is titled "I love that type of player", in reference to Halpin. Sportsnet's summary doesn't include more of what Ramirez said.
Halpin's regular season makes the homer a surprise. The 24-year-old center fielder hit .225 with a .594 OPS over 83 games, with four home runs and 14 RBI, and he stole 11 bases by our count. His 2026 homers came about once every 44.5 at-bats. Thursday's was one of four hits he has had in the postseason that we can point to from this game alone: he went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a strikeout.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| CLE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 6 | 0 |
The result matters for both clubs. Tampa Bay won 98 games and the AL East. Cleveland won 85 and the AL Central. The series has swung each game: the Guardians won Game 1 on Monday, 7-3. The Rays took Game 2 on Tuesday, 3-1. Cleveland has won both games it played at home or away with three or more runs on the board, and Tampa Bay has now lost two of three.
Game 4 is Friday, Oct. 16, again at Progressive Field, with the Guardians one win from a 3-1 lead. Our archive also shows Game 5 at Cleveland on Saturday, Oct. 17.
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