Toronto: The Indians are headed to the World Series for the first time in 19 years.
Rookie pitcher Ryan Merritt was practically conjured out of thin air to deliver one of the gutsiest starts in recent postseason memory and the bullpen was suffocating yet again Wednesday as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 in Game 5 at the Rogers Centre to win the American League Championship Series 4-1.
Andrew Miller, in the midst of one of the most dominating postseason performances for a reliever in baseball history, was named series MVP.
The Indians will await either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Game 1 will be Tuesday at Progressive Field.
“I’m honored that we’re going to the World Series,” Indians manager Terry Francona said, adding that “we always said if we could do it with this group it would be so special because this is as close to a family feel as you can get in a professional setting. So for that part of it, it is beyond feeling good.”
The team that wasn’t supposed to do anything in October after being ravaged by injuries is now four wins away from joining the Cavaliers in giving Cleveland a championship parade in 2016. After being counted out by most of the baseball world, the Indians have their first American League pennant since 1997.
Merritt, the least-experienced starting pitcher in LCS history with one career start and 11 total innings before the postseason, mowed through the dangerous Blue Jays lineup. He was perfect through three innings and allowed only two hits — one of them a bloop single — before being taken out after 4⅓ scoreless innings. It was everything the Indians could have asked from him and more.
Merritt left the game with a 3-0 lead, as the Indians jumped on starting pitcher Marco Estrada. Francisco Lindor singled with two outs in the first inning and scored when Mike Napoli drilled a double off the wall in left field to put the Indians up 1-0.
The Indians tacked on with some power. Carlos Santana crushed a solo home run to right field to make it 2-0 in the third inning. An inning later, Coco Crisp homered to right field to push the Indians’ lead to 3-0. Crisp also hit a key home run when the Indians clinched the American League Division Series in Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox.
That all set up Francona to go to his bullpen with a lead, just as planned. Bryan Shaw entered in the fifth and allowed a single but then struck out Ezequiel Carrera and Kevin Pillar to end the inning.
In the sixth, Jose Bautista singled off Shaw with one out to lead to Miller. Facing Josh Donaldson, the Blue Jays’ best hitter in the series, Miller induced an inning-ending double play on the first pitch.
Miller worked a 1-2-3 seventh and then allowed a single in the eighth but retired the side, putting the Indians three outs away but against the heart of the Blue Jays’ batting order. In the ninth, Cody Allen allowed a double to Jose Bautista and then struck out Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion, two of the better hitters in the game.
With the Rogers Centre roaring, Troy Tulowitzki popped out in foul territory to Santana, and the celebration began.
The Indians’ Game 5 win, with an unproven rookie on the mound, 5⅔ scoreless innings from the bullpen and enough offense, was a near-perfect snapshot of their road-block-laced path through the postseason.
Through it all this season — the loss of Michael Brantley, the injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar in September, Trevor Bauer’s drone injury on the eve of the ALCS — the Indians have yet again defied the odds, and have now celebrated the division title in Detroit, the ALDS title in Boston and the ALCS title in Toronto.
Now, they’re on to the World Series with homefield advantage.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ.