The Chicago White Sox dropped Game 3 of the ALDS to the Cleveland Guardians 9-3, hampered by nine walks issued by pitchers and 18 strikeouts at the plate.
The warning from manager Will Venable before the series was clear: give away extra bases to the Guardians. and you lose. On Wednesday, in front of 40,590 fans at a sold-out stadium, his team lived out that nightmare. The 9-3 loss turned a roaring crowd into a silent sea of anxious fans in black. as the White Sox unraveled through nine walks and a season-high 18 strikeouts.
The game hinged on a disastrous third inning where the pitching staff issued three free passes. effectively gifting Cleveland a four-run rally. The slide began with Bryan Hudson, who carried a 6.15 ERA post-All-Star break into the postseason. He retired only one of the four hitters he faced, yielding to Hagen Smith. Smith, tasked with stopping the bleeding just four days after an eight-out performance in Game 1, instead struggled with his command. After walking Jose Ramirez to load the bases. he surrendered a bases-clearing triple to Jo Adell. who bounced a 1-2 fastball down the right-field line to put Cleveland ahead for good.
The defensive and pitching miscues continued throughout the afternoon. In the fifth, Ramirez doubled off Noah Schultz, stole third, and scored on a Chase DeLauter grounder. Ramirez returned in the eighth to deliver a back-breaking, two-run bloop triple off David Sandlin. Davis Martin. making his postseason debut in the ninth. issued two more walks that both scored. capping a day where the White Sox simply couldn’t find the strike zone or secure the ball. A Brayan Rocchio pop-fly that dropped in short left field to plate another run served as the final indignity for the home crowd.
Offensively, the Sox were equally stifled. Entering the game with the third-highest strikeout rate in the league. the team was dismantled by a Cleveland staff that boasted the fourth-highest strikeout rate in MLB. The Guardians’ Foster Griffin set a franchise postseason record with seven strikeouts in a single relief appearance. The Sox whiffed 18 times total, failing to capitalize on early momentum. In the first inning, after Kyle Teel drove in a run with a double, the rally died on strikeouts. They managed only one run in the fourth despite back-to-back leadoff doubles from Chase Meidroth and Tristan Peters. with Colson and Braden Montgomery both struck out in the process.
Luck seemed to desert them alongside their command. In the fifth. Teel hammered a 100 mph liner to right. but Travis Bazzana snagged it for a leaping catch. doubling off Miguel Vargas to end the threat. Vargas faced a chance at redemption in the sixth with the bases loaded. only for his hard-hit ball to be knocked down by Ramirez. who scrambled to his feet to make a throw that staved off a comeback.
With the series shifting to Game 4 on Thursday, the margin for error has evaporated. The White Sox proved on Wednesday that the cost of free bases and missed opportunities in the postseason is a deficit that is becoming increasingly difficult to overcome.
White Sox Guardians ALDS MLB baseball playoffs Chicago Cleveland