Cleveland kept its October road alive with a 9-5 Game 4 win over the White Sox at Rate Field, but the Guardians paid for their season-saving night with an early trip through the bullpen and an unexpected appearance by the pitcher lined up for Saturday’s deciding game.
A sixth-inning surge saves Cleveland
The Guardians erased the threat of elimination with the kind of offense that has carried the club before: pressure, traffic and a crooked number. Cleveland broke the game open with six runs in the sixth inning, turning an early deficit into a four-run victory and sending the American League Division Series back to Progressive Field.
- Cleveland defeated Chicago, 9-5, in Game 4.
- The Guardians forced a winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday.
- Game 5 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field, airing on TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max.
- Gavin Williams had been set to start the deciding game before being needed out of the bullpen Thursday.
For a club that needed 27 outs to extend its season, getting them became more complicated than anticipated.
Messick cannot settle in
Rookie left-hander Parker Messick brought swing-and-miss stuff early, striking out five of the first 10 White Sox hitters he faced. But command, rather than stuff, defined his short start. He issued four walks, matching his career high, and the fourth came with the bases loaded to Munetaka Murakami, putting Chicago ahead by a run.
Messick was removed with one out in the third inning. It marked another start in the series in which his pitch count climbed too quickly, despite the promise he has shown throughout a rookie season that has put him in the American League Rookie of the Year conversation and, perhaps, on the fringes of Cy Young consideration.
Manager Stephen Vogt said the game’s plan changed immediately when Messick departed.
“The script tonight got ripped up in the third,” Vogt said. “When you have to go to the bullpen early, you have to get creative in a win-or-go-home game.”
Messick logged 186 1/3 regular-season innings, easily the heaviest workload of his career, and Vogt said Cleveland could not afford to wait once the left-hander’s control abandoned him.
“Parker’s command was not sharp tonight,” Vogt said. “The walks were very uncharacteristic for our staff. We didn’t know what Chicago would do beyond Erick Fedde, so it felt like we needed to stop it right there in the third.”
Williams gets the call before his Game 5 start
Cleveland used seven relievers after Messick’s exit. Most of that group was protected from an excessive workload, but closer Cade Smith and Williams became the central concern heading into Saturday.
Smith entered the eighth with a five-run cushion and was asked to cover the final six outs. He worked a scoreless eighth, then ran into trouble in the ninth when Miguel Vargas opened the inning with a home run and Murakami drew a walk.
Vogt then made the bold move: Williams, the expected Game 5 starter, entered for his first professional relief outing. His last bullpen work before Thursday had come at East Carolina in 2021.
- Williams threw 18 pitches in a high-leverage ninth inning.
- He retired the final three White Sox hitters to close the 9-5 victory.
- His appearance came roughly 48 hours before the potential Game 5 start.
- Smith had been pushed to a 10-pitch battle with Colson Montgomery before Cleveland turned to Williams.
“We knew Gavin was available for one,” Vogt said. “We certainly didn’t want to use him. But after that at-bat against Cade, it was time to get Gavin.”
All hands likely for Progressive Field
Williams’ availability as a starter will be one of the defining questions when the series returns to Cleveland. Still, the Guardians have reason to believe their bullpen can cover a broad range of Game 5 scenarios. Aside from Smith, no Cleveland reliever threw more than 20 pitches in Game 4.
Vogt expects the usual October approach: everyone prepared, every matchup considered, and no assumption that a traditional starter’s outing will decide the night.
“I don’t feel we’ve overextended too many bullpen guys,” Vogt said. “Cade is a warrior. He steps up every night, and I know he’ll be ready Saturday. Workload is always a concern at this time of year, but we ask a lot of these guys, and they answer.”
The Guardians have their home field, a live bullpen and a Game 5 still waiting. What they no longer have is a perfectly clean pitching script.
