The Chicago White Sox bullpen once again held strong and the team’s offense did just enough in a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.
The victory leaves the White Sox one win away from advancing to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2005, and gives them four consecutive playoff victories to open this year’s postseason.
Sean Burke threw 5.1 innings and allowed just one run and struck out six batters, capping off another strong pitching performance by the team’s staff.
Munetaka Murakami hit an RBI single in the fourth inning, and Braden Montgomery hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning to help the White Sox to yet another dramatic victory.
Things didn’t exactly get off to a great start for the White Sox though, as pitcher Sean Newcomb’s fielding error in the first inning allowed two runs to score, giving Cleveland a 2-0 lead.
That lead held into the fourth thanks to the White Sox bullpen again putting up a stellar performance, and slowly but surely their offense began to chip away at the advantage. In the fourth inning, Murakami knocked in a key run to score Kyle Teel, making it a 2-1 game, and then in the sixth, the White Sox got a huge hit from Braden Montgomery to score Randall Grichuk and Miguel Vargas to take a 3-2 lead.
Chase Meidroth then drove in an insurance run with a single to right field, and that insurance run ended up proving hugely important for the South Siders.
That’s because the Guardians got a run back in the eighth inning, with the first pitch Grant Taylor threw getting drilled off the left-center field wall by Jo Adell to score Chase DeLauter.
Fortunately for the White Sox the next pitch was lifted to left field by Nathaniel Lowe and caught by Sam Antonacci, leaving the White Sox three outs away from a 2-0 series lead.
After a quiet top of the ninth, the Guardians went down in order with a ground out and two flyouts to center field, giving Taylor a save for the second consecutive game and leaving the White Sox one out away from the ALCS.
Game 3 in the series will shift back to Rate Field in Chicago, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
