Take it from someone who was in the stadium for Game 4: Rate Field was rocking on Thursday night. At least for the first few innings. The White Sox took the field in front of their home fans looking to clinch a playoff series win at home for the first time in 120 years after failing to do so on Wednesday, and they turned to the group that’s gotten them this far: the bullpen. Hagen Smith took the mound to a roaring crowd of 40,000, who have waited a long time for a chance at this.
Hagen Smith has dominated at times this Postseason, but he didn’t appear to have his good stuff on Thursday. He walked three Guardians hitters in the first inning, loading the bases with two outs before Erick Fedde came in and fanned Angel Martinez to end the threat. The White Sox didn’t do much through two innings against Parker Messick, but started to get things going in the third. An infield single by Colson Montgomery was followed by a double from Chase Meidroth. With the bases loaded and one out, Munetaka Murakami drew a walk and Sam Antonacci followed with a sacrifice fly to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead.
The White Sox gave the lead right back in the fifth, when Patrick Bailey led off the inning with a solo home run against Erick Fedde. After a one-out single by Steven Kwan, the White Sox brought Jordan Hicks into the game, who immediately surrendered a two-run homer to Jose Ramirez to give Cleveland the 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the White Sox continued to battle. Tanner Bibee walked Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas, and Tim Herrin gave up a single to Munetaka Murakami to load the bases. Sam Antonacci did what he does best, took a pitch off the arm, to tie the game. Brenton Doyle followed with a sacrifice fly, and the White Sox were back in front 4-3.
The White Sox overused bullpen doomed them in ALDS game 4
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. Anthony Kay hit Angel Martinez with a pitch with one out in the sixth, and he promptly stole second and scored on Travis Bazzana’s double. Grant Taylor came into the ball game early. Patrick Bailey then singled in Bazzana, putting Cleveland back on top 5-4. That’s when the wheels fell off. The next five batters reached against Taylor, scoring four more runs and staking Cleveland to a 9-4 lead. With a big hole to climb out of, the White Sox struggled to do much against the Guardians bullpen until the 9th, when Miguel Vargas led off the inning with a home run against Cade Smith to make it 9-5. A Munetaka Murakami walk brought likely Game 5 starter Gavin Williams into the game, and he gave up a single to Sam Antonacci, bringing the tying run into the on-deck circle.
The White Sox could never get the tying run to the plate, and Braden Montgomery’s sinking liner fell into the glove to Steven Kwan and officially sent this series back to Cleveland. The road team has won all four games of this series so far, and they’ll have to make it five for the White Sox to advance to the ALCS. Despite pitching Thursday night, Gavin Williams is expected to start Game 5 for Cleveland after a dominant showing in Game 2, and the White Sox will likely rely on Sean Burke to provide length for a taxed bullpen. It’s not going to be an easy task, but the White Sox hopefully still have some fight left in them. For the first time all year, the White Sox will be playing one game for their season. We’ll see how the boys respond.
Over the last 2 games, White Sox hitters have struck out 31 times and White Sox pitchers have issued 17 walks.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 9, 2026
No other MLB team in the modern era has had that many strikeouts at the plate and that many walks on the mound over a 2-game span (reg or post).
Add us as a preferred source on Google