The White Sox's pregame pitching plan involved Hagen Smith, Erick Fedde, Anthony Kay, Jordan Hicks and Grant Taylor in some order.
Well, Smith didn't get out of the first inning, Hicks gave up a go-ahead homer, Kay only retired one of the three batters he faced, and Taylor looked cooked. Fedde pitched OK, but more of him didn't look like a real answer, either.
That's how a 2-0 lead turned into a 3-2 deficit in the top of the fifth, and how a 4-3 lead turned into a 9-4 deficit after the top of the sixth. The White Sox will have to wait until a 121st season to clinch at home, and now they'll head to Cleveland in hopes of avoiding becoming the first team in nine years to blow a 2-0 Division Series lead.
It all came apart in the sixth inning when Anthony Kay took over. He got Anthony Kay to ground out, but then he plunked Angel Martínez, who stole second, then scored when Travis Bazzana's clunky line drive clanked off the glove of a diving Braden Montgomery to tie the game at 4.
If only the game remained there. In came Grant Taylor, who failed to retire any of the six batters he faced. It started with Patrick Bailey flipping a curve on the outer edge to left field for a go-ahead single, but it didn't end there. Taylor walked the next two batters on nine total pitches, and then José Ramírez's grounder got past the glove of a diving Chase Meidroth for an RBI infield single. Chase DeLauter and Jo Adell then followed with singles to right field, neither of which were smoked, but neither of which had to be. It almost looked like softball, where they were poking the ball where it needed to go, and just like that, a 4-3 White Sox lead turned into a 9-4 Guardians romp.
It could've been an utterly demoralizing defeat, but Stephen Vogt decided to throw the White Sox a bone late. First, he used Cade Smith with the intent of having him throw the final two innings for a second consecutive inning. It worked well enough for the eighth, but when Miguel Vargas took him deep to open the ninth and Munetaka Murakami followed with a walk, Vogt called upon presumptive Game 5 starter Gavin Williams to close it out.
The Sox nearly ended up bringing the tying run to the plate. Sam Antonacci singled, but the Sox couldn't get that extra time on base. Andrew Benintendi came off the bench to hit for Brenton Doyle, but he was overmatched in Game 2, and that was also the case here. Kyle Teel worked a 3-0 count, but Williams got back in the count full, and the only pitch that was a potential ball four was a curveball that probably looked strike-like for too long. Teel fouled that one off, then grounded into a 6-4 putout. That left Braden Montgomery as the last hope, and he flied out to left to end the game.
Still, the White Sox made Cleveland's closer look mortal, and forced Saturday's starter to throw 18 high-stress pitches. The game didn't figure to be a candidate for a cliffhanger ending, but Vogt provided one.
Ideally, the clock would've been stopped on this game when Travis Bazzana grounded into a 3-1 putout to end the fourth inning, with Fedde flinging the ball into the upper deck in celebration. Fedde had recorded the final out of a third inning of work after the White Sox took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third while knocking Parker Messick out of the game.
Or perhaps it could have stopped after the bottom of the fifth. Sure, Fedde gave up a homer to Bailey to put the Guardians on the board to start the top of that inning, and after a one-out single by Steven Kwan knocked Fedde out of the game, José Ramírez took new reliever Jordan Hicks out of the park for a two-run shot that gave the Guardians a 3-2 lead.
But the Sox provided a commensurate answer, even with less convincing swings. They ran through Tanner Bibee, who walked Meidroth and Vargas around a strikeout of Tristan Peters to put two on, and both came around to score. A Murakami single off lefty Tim Herrin loaded the bases, an Antonacci HBP from Herrin tied the game at 3, and Doyle's sac fly to center made it a 4-3 game. Erik Sabrowski entered and struck out Braden Montgomery, and that's more or less where the party ended.
The White Sox offense did a much better job of controlling the strike zone tonight as opposed to Game 3, although the big hit proved elusive. They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and that hit didn't actually score a run.
But the White Sox did grind out five runs through other means, which fans have wanted at various points. While Randal Grichuk struck out with runners on second and third and one out in the third, Vargas and Murakami drew consecutive walks for the game's first run, and Sam Antonacci came off the bench for Tommy Pham and delivered a sac fly for that 2-0 lead. Throw in Antonacci's RBI HBP and Doyle's sac fly, and the Sox used three different methods to score their first four runs without the benefit of a hit. They also stranded 12, so another sold-out crowd of 39,920 never got that opportunity to really erupt.
Bullet points:
*Murakami reached base three times, had the lone hit with runners in scoring position, started and finished a 3-6-3 double play as the biggest highlight of a fine defensive day at first base.
*His day was welcome, because Vargas drew three walks as teams seem to prefer challenging anybody else.
*Smith walked three of the five batters he faced to force Fedde to make his entrance with the bases loaded in the first.
*Bryan Hudson and Tyler Davis covered the last 3⅔ innings without incident. Hudson didn't strike out anybody, but White Sox pitchers only recorded three strikeouts against seven walks overall.
Series tied at 2 | Box score | Statcast
