If there's ever a time to be humbled, it's after winning four consecutive postseason games and holding a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series.
The excitement was subdued by a four-run Cleveland outburst in the second, and while the White Sox offense mounted various threats to close the gap, a two-run eighth pushed the game out of reach, and a two-run ninth made it a laugher.
The good news? The White Sox still have two more chances to get it right, and Cleveland closer Cade Smith pitched the final two innings.
The bad news? The White Sox have a lot of things to correct, be it a plate approach that led to a record 19 strikeouts, a staff that needs to reevaluate its list of trustworthy relievers, and even smaller things like challenge strategy.
The game took a few turns, but it turned out the Guardians scored all the necessary runs in the third inning, which started with Bryan Hudson following Sean Newcomb's two scoreless innings, and ended with Hagen Smith allowing a bases-loaded triple to Jo Adell.
Hudson only retired one of the four batters he faced, and on a lineout to Colson Montgomery. Otherwise, he started the inning with a walk to Travis Bazzana, then gave up one-out singles to Bryan Rocchio and Steven Kwan, the latter tying the game at 1.
That's when Will Venable called for a third consecutive lefty in Hagen Smith, who walked José Ramírez to load the bases. He got Chase DeLauter to ground into a force at home for the second out, but just when it looked like he was one batter away from escaping disaster, he tried to sneak a high 1-2 fastball past Adell, who shot it down the right field line and into the corner for a three-run triple and a 4-1 Cleveland lead.
The White Sox spent the rest of the game trying to claw their way back into it, and at various moments, it looked like they might. Chase Meidroth and Tristan Peters started the fourth with doubles that made it a 4-2 game, but Foster Griffin struck out Braden Montgomery, after which Shawn Armstrong entered and got Randal Grichuk to line out, followed by a Colson Montgomery strikeout.
José Ramírez answered that run in the top of the fifth by doubling with one out, stealing third and beating Chase Meidroth's throw home on an RBI fielder's choice, but the Sox had one more rally in them.
A fifth-inning rally was stunted by Kyle Teel lining into an inning-ending double play when Miguel Vargas broke for third with the intent to score on a single to right, only to realize too late that Bazzana might've been able to catch it, but they tried once more in the sixth after two outs. Braden Montgomery drew a two-out walk to end Joey Castillo's late afternoon, after which Grichuk greeted Hunter Gaddis with a single and Colson Montogmery was plunked to load the bases.
Up came Sam Antonacci, who was also plunked to make it a 5-3 game, but while Vargas actually put the ball in play with a firm liner, Ramírez stopped it with a lunging effort, and threw across the diamond to end the threat.
At that point, Venable settled for his lower-leverage arms and guys who hadn't pitched, and the Guardians bled them for four more. More after the livestream.
