Kyle Teel’s slide in the seventh inning told the White Sox everything about how they intend to play this October. With two outs, a thin margin and a throw arriving ahead of him, Teel kept coming. Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges could not secure the ball, and Teel’s run became Chicago’s third in a 3-0 Game 1 win over the Guardians in the American League Division Series.
The result
The White Sox carried a 2-0 lead into the seventh before Teel came home on a decision that third-base coach Justin Jirschele would make again. The throw was on target and appeared to beat Teel to the plate, but the ball came loose in Hedges’ attempt to finish the play.
Jirschele briefly watched the play unfold, then celebrated after Teel crossed the plate. It was the kind of send that can draw second-guessing in a postseason game built around pitching and scarce scoring chances. For Chicago, though, it was consistent with the approach that carried the club into October.
“With two outs in that spot, in a low-scoring game, we’re going to push the issue if there’s an opportunity to score,” Jirschele said during Sunday’s workout. “You have to accept that an out can happen. But if the runner can make a real play at the plate, with a slide and a close play, then it takes a perfect throw to get him.”
Hedges delivered that perfect throw. The White Sox still got the run because he could not hold on.
Jirschele said the key is avoiding sends where a runner is stopped well short of the plate and the play ends without a legitimate chance. Teel’s attempt did not fit that category. It was a tight play, and Chicago was willing to live with the outcome either way.
Manager Will Venable backed the call, saying the club must balance responsibility with pressure on the bases as the series moves forward. He expects runs to remain difficult to find, both against Cleveland’s staff and with the way the White Sox pitchers have been throwing.
Venable said he liked the send even in the scenario where Teel had been retired. In that moment, it may have been Chicago’s best opening to add a run, and the White Sox do not intend to pull back merely because the calendar says postseason.
“It isn’t always going to work,” Venable said. “That’s fine. We have to keep the pressure on.”
Jirschele has a trusted sounding board in his father, Mike Jirschele, the former Royals third-base coach who was in Kansas City’s dugout for consecutive World Series trips and the 2015 championship. Mike Jirschele is attending this Division Series and remains someone his son leans on when the decisions at third base carry extra weight.
The advice is simple: once the game begins, the reads do not change. October brings more attention, but the same instincts that got a club here still have to guide it.
Game 2 is scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. ET, with Chicago holding a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
