Guardians 3, Rays 2: Halpin changes the lead, Smith protects it

Petey Halpin gave Cleveland the lead with one swing. Cade Smith made sure the Rays never got it back. Halpin's two-run homer in the fifth inning lifted the Guardians to a 3-2 win Thursday at Progressive Field, and Smith closed the last four outs to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.

The homer is the easy place to start. The eighth inning is the place to understand how close this remained. Tampa Bay put the tying run at third with two outs. Smith entered, struck out Yandy Diaz and then retired the Rays in order in the ninth. A one-run lead survived because Cleveland got the most urgent out before the last inning began.

The fifth changed the game

Nathaniel Lowe's second-inning double drove in Jo Adell for the game's first run. Tampa Bay answered in the fourth when Chandler Simpson tripled home Diaz and Victor Mesa Jr. for a 2-1 lead. Gavin Williams did not have an untouched afternoon, but he kept the damage there. He allowed two hits and one walk over five innings, gave up two runs and struck out nine.

Halpin reversed the score in the bottom of the fifth. Patrick Bailey scored ahead of him on the two-run homer to right-center against Griffin Jax. Cleveland had trailed by one; now it led by one. There would be no insurance run. The Guardians finished with six hits, and the Rays finished with three. The last four innings tested the lead rather than expanding it.

The tying run got to third. It stayed there.

Daniel Espino and Erik Sabrowski each worked a hitless, walk-free inning after Williams. Hunter Gaddis opened the eighth, but Richie Palacios doubled with one out. Pinch-runner Jorge Mateo reached third on Taylor Walls' groundout. That left Smith facing Diaz with the tying run 90 feet away. His strikeout ended Tampa Bay's best late chance without asking Cleveland's offense for another answer.

Smith retired Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero and Mesa in the ninth, with Mesa's foul fly to Steven Kwan ending the game. Smith allowed no hits or walks and struck out two in 1 1/3 innings. Together, Cleveland's four relievers covered four innings with one hit, no walks, no runs and four strikeouts. Williams earned the win, Jax took the loss and Smith recorded the save.

Two wins still to get

This was not a runaway, and a 2-1 series lead is not a pennant. Simpson's triple had already shown that Tampa Bay could turn a small opening into a lead, and Palacios' double gave the Rays another route back. Cleveland's distinction was its response: Halpin changed the score, then the bullpen denied the next change.

Game 4 is scheduled for Friday, October 16, at 6 p.m. Eastern in Cleveland, according to MLB's schedule checked Thursday. The Guardians need two more wins to take the best-of-seven series. They earned the advantage in Game 3 with a fifth-inning homer and an eighth-inning escape, not with enough offense to make the finish comfortable.