Guardians Avoid Sweep against White Sox in ALDS

Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

October 7, 2026

Guardians 9, White Sox 3

The Cleveland Guardians were able to prolong their 2026 postseason run with a convincing 9–3 victory over the Chicago White Sox Wednesday afternoon. Jo Adell and Jose Ramirez both delivered run-scoring triples for the Guardians. With this win, they have cut the White Sox’ ALDS lead to 2–1. Game Four of this duel will get underway Thursday with first pitch set for 4 pm Central at Rate Field. Left-hander Parker Messick will get the ball for the Guardians, and, as of press time, the White Sox had yet to name their starting pitcher for that game.

Guardians — White Sox Game Summary

The White Sox took an early 1–0 lead in the bottom of the first against right-hander Daniel Espino. Sam Antonacci drew a walk to lead off the frame and moved to second on a single to left by Miguel Vargas. After Munetaka Murakami struck out swinging, Antonacci scored thanks to a double lined to right by Kyle Teel.

The Guardians took a 4–1 lead off reliever Bryan Hudson in the top of the third. Travis Bazzana led off with a walk after an unsuccessful ABS challenge by the White Sox. Patrick Bailey lined to short, bringing up Brayan Rocchio, who nudged Bazzana to second with a single to right. Bazzana scored moments later on a single to left by Steven Kwan.

This brought White Sox manager Will Venable to the mound to bring in reliever Hagen Smith. Smith started his afternoon with a walk to Ramirez to load the bases. On deck was Adell, who tripled on a ground ball up the line in right. All three runners came around to score when the throw back to the infield was bounced by Braden Montgomery in right.

The White Sox got one back in the bottom of the fourth against reliever Foster Griffin. Chase Meidroth sent a leadoff double to left. Tristan Peters drove him in with a double to center.

The Guardians extended their lead to 5–2 in the top of the fifth with reliever Noah Schultz on the mound. Ramirez hit a one-out double to left and stole second moments later. Up next was Chase DeLauter, who brought home Ramirez when he grounded into a fielder’s choice fielded by Meidroth at second.

Back and Forth

The White Sox inched closer in the bottom of the sixth with reliever Joey Cantillo pitching. A two-out free pass to Montgomery prompted Venable to bring in Hunter Gaddis to relieve Cantillo. The first batter Gaddis faced was Randal Grichuk, who singled sharply to left. Up next was Colson Montgomery, whom Gaddis plunked to load the bases. Antonacci followed with the second consecutive hit-by-pitch to plate (Braden) Montgomery.

The Guardians scored two insurance runs in the top of the eighth off reliever David Sandlin. Bazzana opened the stanza with a walk and advanced to second on a single to left by Bailey. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Rocchio back to Sandlin in front of the mound. After Kwan flied to left, Ramirez scored the traveling show of Bazzana and Bailey with a triple that trickled past a diving Grichuk in left.

The Guardians pushed two more runs across in the top of the ninth off reliever Davis Martin. Nathaniel Lowe and Petey Halpin set the table with back-to-back walks. Up next was Angel Genao, who drove in Lowe with a double to left. After Bailey struck out swinging, Halpin scored courtesy of a lazy fly ball hit to left by Rocchio. It dropped in front of Grichuk, allowing Halpin to cross the plate.

Reliever Cade Smith closed it out by retiring the White Sox in order in the bottom of the ninth.

What Went Right for the Guardians

The Guardians were unable to leave the yard in Game Three of this ALDS. However, they had several run-scoring extra-base hits. The RBI triples by Adell and Ramirez stand out immediately. Genao had his two-run double in the ninth, and Ramirez also had an RBI double.

What Went Wrong for the Guardians

The Guardians had problems early on in the first when Teel scored Antonacci with his double to right. They faced similar adversity in the bottom of the fourth when Peters plated Meidroth with his double to center. The hit-by-pitches in the sixth inning also hurt them.

Espino’s Afternoon

Guardians starter Daniel Espino made his first career postseason start on Wednesday. He recorded the shortest start by a Guardians pitcher in the postseason since Aaron Civale (1/3 IP) in Game Five of the 2022 ALDS versus the New York Yankees.

Griffin picked up the win for his effort. He made his first career postseason appearance on Wednesday. Griffin recorded a franchise-record seven strikeouts as a reliever. He threw 53 pitches, 39 for strikes, with the following pitch breakdown: 16 sweepers (81.3 mph avg, 83.4 mph max), 13 sinkers (92.8 avg, 94.2 max), 11 four-seam fastballs (92.3 avg, 93.5 max), eight cutters (88.8 avg, 90.5 max), four change-ups (83.0 avg, 84.2 max) and one splitter (81.0 mph). Griffin recorded eight swings and misses.

Newcomb’s Afternoon

White Sox starter Sean Newcomb made his second career postseason start and first since October 7, 2018 versus the Los Angeles Dodgers as a member of the Atlanta Braves. Newcomb retired five of the six batters he faced on Wednesday. He owns a 2.03 ERA and a .140 (6-for-43) opponents average with 10 strikeouts over nine career postseason appearances. Two of them were starts.

Hudson was saddled with the loss after only recording one out in the third. He surrendered three runs, all earned, on two hits and one walk.

Vogt’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt described the impact the crowd had in this game. “I just want to comment. What a great atmosphere,” he said “That was awesome to hear the fans going crazy. Really cool to be a part of that. Obviously Jo (Adell) with the big hit to give us a little bit of cushion was huge. We continued to pile on. I think that’s been the difference of the first couple games to today was Game Two, we were able to get a couple of runs but weren’t able to add on. But really good job by our guys today.”

Venable’s Postgame Comments

On the other side, White Sox manager Will Venable discussed his team’s resilliance both in this series and the season in general. “It is 100 percent confidence,” he stated. “We’ve done it all year. We’ve been in tough spots where we haven’t played our best games, we’ve played good games. Whatever the result, these guys came back the next day. It’s really kind of been the story of our group and being able to bounce back no matter what happens.”