Sean Burke gave the White Sox the kind of October start that travels, and Chicago’s lineup found its decisive swing in the sixth inning Monday night. A 4-3 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field put the White Sox up 2-0 in the American League Division Series, with the club returning to Rate Field needing one more victory to reach the ALCS.
The result
Cleveland struck first, scoring twice against Anthony Kay and Sean Newcomb in the opening inning. It was the first deficit Chicago had faced in the 2026 postseason, ending a 27-inning stretch in which the White Sox had been in front for 24 innings.
Burke settled the game from there. The right-hander worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and one run while striking out six and walking one. Against a Guardians lineup that had made its presence felt immediately, Burke kept the pressure from building after the first.
Gavin Williams made Chicago earn its breakthrough. The Cleveland starter struck out 11 over five-plus innings, though Miguel Vargas repeatedly put together productive trips to the plate. Vargas walked twice before opening the sixth with a single to left.
Munetaka Murakami moved Vargas to second with a ground ball against reliever Erik Sabrowski, and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk took a four-pitch walk. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and after Tommy Pham lifted a short fly to left, Cleveland was one out from stranding the threat.
Braden Montgomery changed the inning. The switch-hitting rookie drove an opposite-field double down the right-field line, bringing home two runs and putting Chicago ahead 3-2. Chase Meidroth followed against Hunter Gaddis with an RBI single to make it a two-run game.
Grant Taylor was called upon in the eighth after Chase DeLauter’s two-out single, despite having thrown four innings Saturday. Jo Adell’s first pitch against the White Sox closer became a triple to left-center, narrowly missing a game-tying homer. Nathaniel Lowe then lined to left, ending the inning and preserving Chicago’s lead.
| ALDS Game 2 | R |
|---|---|
| White Sox | 4 |
| Guardians | 3 |
Chicago has won all four of its postseason games so far. The 2-0 series lead also puts history on its side: teams that have taken a best-of-five series’ first two games have advanced 83 times in 93 opportunities. In the current 2-2-1 Division Series format, clubs sweeping the first two road games have moved on 17 times in 19 tries.
The most recent team to erase an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series was the 2017 Yankees, who lost the first two games in Cleveland before advancing. The last club to lose Games 1 and 2 at home and recover was Toronto in the 2015 ALDS against Texas.
Chicago waits for a home clincher
Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT at Rate Field, with a Thursday game available if needed. Both dates are sold out.
The White Sox have not played a home postseason game since 2021. Fans will bring back the Blackout look even with the afternoon first pitch, and the occasion carries an unusual historical weight: Chicago has never clinched a postseason series at home since the White Sox beat the Cubs in Game 6 of the 1906 World Series at South Side Park.
A victory Wednesday or Thursday would send the White Sox to the ALCS for the first time since 2005. That championship club went 11-1 in October, opening with a 3-1 run before winning its final eight games.
Catcher Kyle Teel, who scored Chicago’s first run Monday, said the moment belongs in part to the supporters who endured the club’s difficult stretches.
“Credit the fans who stayed with us through the hard times,” Teel said. “Now we’re doing something big, and getting to play in front of them, show who we are and try to win ballgames is really special.”
