Twice the Guardians stood on the brink of elimination, and twice they refused to blink.
On the road, Cleveland responded in front of a loud, hostile crowd at Rate Field by remembering what it most excels at: Guardsball.Â
In a back-and-forth affair, the Guardians stayed gritty and passed the baton all night despite an unexpected short outing from their ace, needing a total of eight pitchers to force the American League Division Series back to Cleveland.
Now the series is tied at 2-2, and everything will come down to Game 5 on Saturday night at Progressive Field. The winner will play a well-rested and dominant Tampa Bay Rays team in the AL Championship Series. The loser will have a long winter ahead of them to ruminate over all that went wrong.Â
It might not be Game 7, but Saturdays Game 5 will be, no doubt, just as nerve-wracking.
Here are my takeaways from Game 4:
The White Sox were reeling from a painful fifth inning that saw the Guardians hit two home runs to take a lead, one from pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey and the other, a two-run shot, from de facto team captain José RamÃrez.
Even though Chicago took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth, the Guardians’ offense was just getting started.
Cleveland saw three Chicago relievers in the massive top of the sixth inning, which changed the outlook of the game and kept its season from ending. A total lack of command, which plagued both teams on Thursday, sparked the Guardians comeback when left-hander Anthony Kay hit Angel Martinez with a pitch.Â
Smelling blood, Cleveland continued to tack on. Second baseman Travis Bazzana collected an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4.Â
Then, White Sox right-hander Grant Taylor jogged in from the bullpen to relieve Kay. But Taylor, in his fourth relief appearance of this postseason, struggled to record outs. He gave up an RBI single to Bailey, a walk to shortstop Brayan Rocchio and center fielder Steven Kwan, and a pair of singles to RamÃrez and right fielder Chase DeLauter to give the Guardians a 7-4 lead.
With the bases loaded, Clevelands trade-deadline pickup and designated hitter Jo Adell put on the finishing touches with a bases-loaded, two-run single to right, ending Taylors night before he could record a single out.
By the time the inning was over, the Guardians had turned their 4-3 deficit into a 9-4 lead. It was exactly the type of steady, no-panic approach at the plate that Cleveland relied on all year to clinch the AL Central.Â
Passing the baton is how the Guardians reached this point. They will need more of that in Saturdays Game 5 in order to advance to the ALCS.Â
Guardians left-hander Parker Messick was the top rookie pitcher in baseball this year. But you wouldnt know it from his erratic start against the White Sox on Thursday.
Messick lasted just 2 1/3 innings across 65 grueling pitches in Game 4 at a rocking Rate Field. He walked four of the 13 batters he faced, with his final free pass of the night coming with the bases loaded, which allowed the White Sox to get on the board and take the lead in the third inning. After giving up two earned runs in 4 â innings in Game 1 of the ALDS, Messick was on normal rest in Game 4, but he never looked as dangerous as he had been all year for the Guardians.
The 25-year-old southpaw had a cup of coffee in the majors last season, maintained his rookie eligibility, and followed it up with a 2.56 ERA in 186 innings and 32 starts this season. Messick established himself as a premier frontline starter and was one of the reasons this Guardians team entered October believing it has the talent to go all the way.
Messick was in the 81st percentile with his walk rate (6.6%) in his rookie season, ranking among the top 16 starters in the league at preventing free passes. He actually walked opposing batters less and less each month of the regular season, walking four hitters just once in a single game this year. So, it w
