The White Sox had this one in front of them, then watched the sixth inning rip it away.
A 4-3 lead turned into a 9-4 hole in a hurry, and the Guardians finished off a 9-5 win that sends the series back to Cleveland. The White Sox will have to wait until a 121st season to clinch at home, and they now head north trying to become the first team in nine years to blow a 2-0 Division Series lead.
The game had already been wobbling before the sixth, with Chicago’s pitching plan never really settling into place. Hagen Smith couldn’t escape the first inning, Anthony Kay barely made a dent in the game, Jordan Hicks surrendered the go-ahead homer, and Grant Taylor never looked comfortable. Erick Fedde was solid enough, but not enough to make the whole thing feel stable.
Then came the inning that broke it open.
Anthony Kay entered and got Anthony Kay to ground out, then hit Angel Martínez. Martínez stole second and scored when Travis Bazzana’s clunky line drive glanced off the glove of a diving Braden Montgomery, tying the game at 4.
From there, Grant Taylor was hit hard by the simple stuff and the pressure of it all. Patrick Bailey poked a curveball to left for a go-ahead single, Taylor walked the next two batters on nine pitches, and José Ramírez rolled a grounder past a diving Chase Meidroth for an RBI infield single.
Chase DeLauter and Jo Adell followed with singles to right, and suddenly a one-run game had turned into a Guardians rout.
Chicago still had a late pulse, and Stephen Vogt helped keep it alive.
Cade Smith was asked to cover the final two innings for a second straight outing. He got through the eighth, but Miguel Vargas opened the ninth with a homer, and after Munetaka Murakami walked, Vogt went to presumed Game 5 starter Gavin Williams to finish it.
The White Sox made him work. Sam Antonacci singled, Andrew Benintendi came off the bench to hit for Brenton Doyle, and Kyle Teel worked a 3-0 count before Williams fought back to full.
Teel fouled off the pitch that might have been ball four, then grounded into a 6-4 putout. Braden Montgomery was left with the last shot, and he flied out to left to end it.
Even with the loss, the White Sox made Cleveland’s bullpen sweat. Williams had to throw 18 high-stress pitches, and Vogt’s decision to stretch things late gave Chicago a real chance to turn the game into a cliffhanger.
For a while, it looked like the White Sox might be the ones dictating the pace. They jumped on Parker Messick in the third, forcing him out after taking a 2-0 lead. Erick Fedde had already finished the third after Chicago grabbed control, and the game could have settled there.
Instead, the fifth inning cracked the door open for Cleveland. Bailey homered to get the Guardians on the board, Steven Kwan singled to chase Fedde, and Hicks came in only to watch José Ramírez launch a two-run shot that put Cleveland ahead 3-2.
Chicago answered right back. Tanner Bibee walked Chase Meidroth and Vargas around a strikeout of Tristan Peters, and both came around to score.
A Murakami single off lefty Tim Herrin loaded the bases, Antonacci was hit by a pitch to tie the game at 3, and Doyle lifted a sacrifice fly to center for a 4-3 lead. Erik Sabrowski then entered and struck out Braden Montgomery, and that was about the last clean breath the White Sox got.
The offense was better at controlling the zone than it was in Game 3, but the big hit never really arrived. Chicago went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and that lone hit didn’t drive in a run.
Still, the White Sox scraped together five runs in a variety of ways. Vargas and Murakami drew consecutive walks for the first run, Antonacci added the sacrifice fly that made it 2-0, then later came the hit-by-pitch RBI and Doyle’s sac fly.
The problem was the missed chances: Chicago stranded 12, and a sold-out crowd of 39,920 never got the full eruption it was waiting for.
Murakami was one of the bright spots, reaching base three times, collecting the team’s only hit with runners in scoring position, and starting and finishing a 3-6-3 double play in a strong defensive day at first. Vargas also kept reaching, drawing three walks as opponents seemed to prefer challenging anyone else.
Smith walked three of the five batters he faced, which forced Fedde into the game with the bases loaded in the first. Bryan Hudson and Tyler Davis handled the last 3⅔ innings without incident, though the White Sox staff as a whole finished with just three strikeouts against seven walks.
In Other News...
Foster Griffin Gave Cleveland The Outing Nobody Saw Coming
Foster Griffins appearance in Game 3 of the American League Division Series was the kind of surprise outing that can change the feel of a postseason game. In just 2 2/3 innings of relief, Griffin struck out seven, matching the Guardians postseason record for strikeouts by a reliever and helping fuel a night in which Clevelands pitching staff piled up 19 strikeouts, an MLB postseason record for a nine-inning game.
What made it stand out even more was the setting around it. This was only Griffins second major league relief appearance and his first this season, so there was no real reason to expect him to become a central figure in a playoff game with that much on the line. Instead, he gave Cleveland an outing nobody saw coming, and in October, those are the performances that tend to linger. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Kept Their Season Alive And Now Everything Comes Home
The Guardians are headed back home with their season still intact after a 9-5 win over the White Sox in Game 4 of the ALDS. Cleveland had to answer after falling into an elimination game, and the lineup delivered enough punch to force a decisive Game 5, with the offense breaking through in a big way and giving the club another chance to keep its October run going.
Jos Ramrez was right in the middle of it, helping steady a night that could have slipped away and giving Cleveland the kind of lift it needed when the pressure was highest. Now the focus shifts back to home turf, where the Guardians will try to finish the job and move on to the ALCS, with everything in the series now coming down to one more game. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Suddenly Face A Game 5 Gavin Williams Dilemma
A tense Game 4 win over the White Sox left the Guardians with a familiar October problem and a new wrinkle at the same time. Stephen Vogt leaned on multiple bullpen arms to protect the lead, and one of the more surprising moves was turning to starter Gavin Williams in relief as Cleveland tried to push the American League Division Series to a winner-take-all Game 5.
That usage now hangs over the next days planning, because Williams had not been part of the late-inning relief mix before and was asked to get through just one inning. Vogt said both Williams and Cade Smith should still be options for Game 5, but Cleveland suddenly has to sort out how much it can ask from a starter it may have needed more than expected just to survive the previous night. [Read more 🡒]