CLEVELAND — Petey Halpin delivered the biggest swing of the afternoon at Progressive Field on Thursday, Oct. 15, launching a two-run home run in the fifth inning that put the Cleveland Guardians ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
The moment came after catcher Patrick Bailey opened the inning with a single. Halpin then drove a pitch from Rays starter Griffin Jax over the right-field wall, a 385-foot shot measured at 105 mph off the bat, and marked the drive with an emphatic bat flip as the home crowd erupted. It was the first postseason home run of Halpin’s career.
Tampa Bay had taken the lead an inning earlier. With two outs in the fourth, Chandler Simpson lined a two-run triple into the right-field corner off Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, pushing the Rays in front 2-1 and briefly quieting a ballpark that had waited all day for a Guardians breakthrough.
Halpin’s homer answered immediately, and Cleveland kept pressing. Brayan Rocchio followed with a single, and Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash went to his bullpen, bringing on Tyler Wells to replace Jax and try to keep the deficit at one run in a pivotal middle game of the series.
The best-of-seven series arrived in Cleveland tied at one game apiece. The Guardians took the opener 7-3 in Florida, but the Rays evened the series with a 3-1 win in Game 2, which sent the matchup to Ohio with the pennant race wide open and Games 3, 4 and 5 all scheduled at Progressive Field.
Thursday’s first pitch came hours earlier than originally planned. Major League Baseball moved the start from the evening to 1:10 p.m. because of rain in the Cleveland forecast, with gates opening at 11 a.m. If the series goes the distance, it returns to Florida for Games 6 and 7.
For Halpin, the home run continued a run of timely hitting for Cleveland. He also produced one of the Guardians’ most important home runs of September, helping beat the Chicago White Sox during the stretch run that carried the club into October.
Whatever the final outcome Thursday, the swing changed the shape of Game 3: a Cleveland team that trailed in the middle innings moved in front behind its young center fielder, with the home crowd behind it and the series lead on the line as the ALCS continues in Cleveland.
