Gavin Williams gave the Guardians exactly what they needed for a while Monday night: power, strikeouts and a chance. He fanned 11 in front of a sellout crowd at Progressive Field, but Cleveland still walked off the field down 2-0 in the American League Division Series after a 4-3 loss to the White Sox.
Now the Guardians are in a must-win spot. They’ll head to Rate Field on Wednesday facing elimination, with Chicago one win away from completing a sweep after taking the first two games of the best-of-five series. The White Sox are 4-0 in the postseason after sweeping Tampa Bay in the wild-card round and have not slowed down.
Cleveland at least found the scoreboard this time after being held to three hits in Saturday’s 3-0 loss, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Chicago’s bullpen day. The White Sox leaned on Sean Burke, who delivered the kind of outing that can tilt a series.
He worked 5 1/3 innings, gave up one run and struck out six after coming out of Chicago’s bullpen. Grant Taylor handled the final 1 1/3 innings for his second save of the series.
The Guardians’ best chance to flip the game came early. They grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Chicago left-hander Sean Newcomb unraveled after Anthony Kay opened for the White Sox.
Steven Kwan led off with a single, Jose Ramirez walked, and after Chase DeLauter’s groundout moved both runners to first and third, Newcomb intentionally walked Jo Adell to load the bases. Nathaniel Lowe then sent a high chopper near the mound that Newcomb threw wildly past first base, bringing home Kwan and Ramirez.
Cleveland still had more coming, but Newcomb struck out Angel Martinez and Travis Bazzana to limit the damage.
Williams looked every bit in control early. Through three innings, he posted three straight zeroes and piled up six strikeouts.
Chicago finally got to him in the fourth, trimming the lead to 2-1 on Munetaka Murakami’s RBI single after Kyle Keel singled and Miguel Vargas walked. Williams escaped further trouble by retiring the next three hitters, two on strikeouts, then struck out the side in the fifth after allowing a leadoff single to Colson Montgomery.
The game turned for good in the sixth. Williams opened the inning by allowing a single to Vargas, and Erik Sabrowski came in for Cleveland.
Sabrowski got Murakami on a grounder to second, but then walked pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk and let a wild pitch move both runners up. He got pinch-hitter Tommy Pham to lift a fly ball to short left, but couldn’t finish the inning.
Braden Montgomery followed with a double just inside the right-field foul line, scoring Vargas and Grichuk for a 3-2 Chicago lead. Hunter Gaddis then entered, and Chase Meidroth dropped in a soft single to right to make it 4-2.
Cleveland still had one late push left. Chase DeLauter singled with two outs in the eighth, and Jo Adell ripped a long triple off the center-field wall to cut it to 4-3. That was as close as the Guardians got.
Williams’ 11 strikeouts left him one shy of Charlie Nagy’s postseason club record of 12, set on Oct. 5, 1996, against Baltimore. But Burke stole the night after shaky work from Kay and Newcomb early, then a strong finish from Taylor helped Chicago keep its grip on the series.
Burke had gone 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA against Cleveland in the regular season, and he backed that up Monday by retiring 14 of the first 15 batters he faced. The only baserunner in that stretch was a Travis Bazzana walk in the fourth.
In Other News...
Jose Ramirez Decision Could Define Clevelands ALDS Fight
Jose Ramirezs October has become one of the quietest pressure points in Clevelands ALDS push. The seven-time All-Star has dealt with both performance and injury issues across the regular season and the first two games of the series, and the Guardians have spent enough time around him to know how much his presence usually shapes their offense. Even without a hit yet in the postseason, he has still found a way on base twice through walks and scored a run, a small reminder that his impact can show up in different ways.
Still, the Guardians are weighing whether a lineup adjustment might help ease some of the burden and get Ramirez back to his usual rhythm. Moving him down would be a notable call for a player who has long sat at the center of Clevelands attack, but the pressure around him has only grown as the series has unfolded. No decision has been made, and for a team trying to stay alive in the ALDS, how they handle Ramirez may say as much about their confidence as it does about his current form. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Naylors Rough 2026 Season Finally Has A Clearer Explanation
Josh Naylors difficult 2026 season now has a more concrete backdrop after the Seattle Mariners said he underwent TFCC repair surgery on his right wrist. For Cleveland fans still tracking the former Indian, the update helps put his downturn in context after a year in which his offensive production never matched the level he had established before. The wrist issue, in particular, gives a clearer sense of why things may have felt off for so long.
Seattle also revealed catcher Cal Raleigh had a left shoulder acromioclavicular debridement procedure, another reminder of how much hidden wear can shape a players year before the full picture comes out. In Naylors case, the surgery does not change what happened on the field, but it does add important context to a season that puzzled observers and now looks a little easier to explain. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Season May Hinge On Vogts Toughest Pitching Call Yet
With the Guardians on the brink after dropping the first two games of the ALDS, the attention has quickly shifted to the one decision that could shape the rest of the series: who gets the ball in Game 3. Tanner Bibee, Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo all sit in the mix, and each choice comes with a different kind of risk for a team that no longer has much margin for error.
The discussion around the pitching staff has been about more than just one start, because this is the kind of spot where every move can ripple through the rest of the postseason plan. Cleveland has been forced to weigh upside against reliability in a must-win setting, and with the odds of a comeback already looking slim, the answer to that pitching question may say as much about the Guardians October outlook as the series itself. [Read more 🡒]