It was an American League-only night on Monday, and the Yankees fumbled their way into an 0-2 hole. Four errors gave the Rays far too many opportunities to capitalize, and while Cody Bellinger came a few feet away from a grand slam the only actual results the lineup could produce came on a pair of Ben Rice solo shots. With only one other game going on, let’s take a look at the other side of the AL bracket.
AL Division Series Game 2
Chicago White Sox 4, Cleveland Guardians 3
(Chicago leads, 2-0)
The Guardians knew they needed
to respond facing the potential of going on the road to Chicago down 0-2, and they jumped ahead in the first inning against Anthony Kay. Steven Kwan led off with a single and José Ramírez worked a walk to put runners on, and after a seven-pitch battle that culminated in a ground out moving the runners up Kay’s day was done. Will Venable went to Sean Newcomb knowing he’d need to get a ton of mileage out of his bullpen but Newcomb did him no favors out the gate, spiking a throw to first that turned a fielder’s choice into a two-run lead for Cleveland.
Trailing for the first time this postseason, the White Sox took a bit to get going against Gavin Williams. Williams struck out 11 batters over the course of five innings, looking especially sharp through the first three, but the cracks started to form in the fourth inning. Kyle Teel led off with a single and Miguel Vargas walked to move him into scoring position for Munetaka Murakami, who turned on a triple-digit heater to smoke an RBI single out to right field.
Williams worked around a leadoff single in the fifth by striking out the side, but after he started the sixth off with another single Steven Vogt had seen enough and went to his bullpen. Erik Sabrowski was the choice, and though he managed to get a grounder out of Murakami he was still in trouble and about to make it worse. Pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk worked a walk and a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position before Tommy Pham flew out shallow enough to not bring home the lead runner. That put the pressure on Braden Montgomery to deliver, and he provided with a two-run double slicing down the right field line. That chased Sabrowski from the game, but Hunter Gaddis couldn’t get out of the inning before Chase Meidroth added on with an RBI single to make it 4-2.
The White Sox had the lead, and they’d held Cleveland from scoring after their initial outburst thanks largely to one man. Newcomb gave Chicago two innings before turning the ball over to Sean Burke, their Game 2 starter against the Astros in the Wild Card Series, and he managed to have a better outing coming out of the ‘pen than he did starting that game. Burke pitched 5.1 innings for the Southsiders, striking out six and retiring 16 of the first 17 batters he faced. Chase DeLautner broke that streak up with a single to left, and Venable decided it was time to get his closer Grant Taylor into the game for a four-out save. Jo Adell greeted him with an RBI triple to cut the deficit in half, but Taylor got Nathaniel Lowe to fly out harmlessly to strand the tying run. Cleveland’s rally wouldn’t continue in the ninth as they went down in order, putting Chicago on the doorstep of an ALCS berth.
