The White Sox left Progressive Field with their season over, but Sean Burke’s final October start gave the clubhouse a firm reminder of what this young club has built. Chicago fell 2-0 to Cleveland in Saturday night’s deciding Game 5 of the American League Division Series, undone by one extraordinary swing from José Ramírez.
Ramírez drove a two-run homer in the fourth inning, turning a low two-strike knuckle-curve into the only scoring of the night. The Guardians moved on after Chicago had taken the first two games of the series, while the White Sox saw a surprising run stop one series short of the ALCS.
Quick facts
- Final score: Guardians 2, White Sox 0 in Game 5 at Progressive Field.
- José Ramírez hit a fourth-inning, two-run home run off Sean Burke.
- The pitch was measured at 0.74 feet above the ground, the lowest pitch Ramírez has homered on in his 303 career regular-season and postseason homers.
- It was also the lowest playoff home-run pitch in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008.
- Burke finished the postseason with a 3.77 ERA, 18 strikeouts and one walk in 14 1/3 innings.
Burke had been sharp from the opening pitch, a 93.6 mph sinker to Steven Kwan. He retired Cleveland’s first nine hitters and matched Guardians starter Gavin Williams through three scoreless innings.
Then Kwan opened the fourth with a single on a knuckle-curve that stayed too much in the plate area. Ramírez followed and went down to get Burke’s next breaking ball, sending it out despite its location barely above the dirt.
Burke said afterward that he would not have altered the target. “If I could put that pitch exactly where I wanted it, I still wouldn’t change the location,” he said. “He’s an outstanding player and probably a future Hall of Famer. It was a great swing. As frustrating as it is, you’ve got to tip your cap.”
White Sox manager Will Venable saw the same thing: an executed pitch beaten by a special hitter in a major moment. Venable said Burke’s offering was good, but Ramírez “went down and got it,” the sort of high-pressure play that has made the Cleveland star such a problem for AL Central opponents for more than a decade.
Chicago had used openers in each of the first four games, but gave Burke the conventional start after his Game 2 work on Monday. In that win, he allowed one run and one hit across 5 1/3 innings in a bulk role.
The 26-year-old right-hander recovered after the homer and completed five innings, allowing the bullpen to take over. Sean Newcomb and Grant Taylor combined for three scoreless innings, keeping the deficit at two runs, but Williams and Cleveland’s staff never gave Chicago an opening.
“Sean was excellent,” Venable said. “We were confident in him taking the ball, and he showed why. He attacked the strike zone, his fastball was strong, his spin was good, and he gave us every chance.”
Burke emerged as Chicago’s most dependable source of length during the postseason. That mattered for a roster that navigated October with rookie left-hander Hagen Smith, Taylor, and veterans Jordan Hicks, Erick Fedde and Newcomb in an unconventional pitching mix.
The arrangement nearly carried the White Sox to their first American League Championship Series since 2005. It also helped them get through Houston and seize the opening two games against Cleveland, a run few expected before the season began.
Burke said the group never allowed outside expectations to define its year. “I don’t know what the projections or anybody else thought about our playoff chances at the start,” he said. “I know we were a long shot. But this group kept fighting every day. The way we came together on the field and away from it, it’s the best group I’ve ever been around.”
There was plenty of disappointment in the visiting room after the loss, but Taylor said the experience will stay with a core that now knows what October requires. “We’re still a great group,” he said. “This is going to be invaluable for us.”
