White Sox beat Guardians to move within one win of ALCS

CLEVELAND -- Braden Montgomery lined a two-run double down the right-field line, Sean Burke allowed one hit in 5⅓ innings of splendid relief and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 on Monday to take a 2-0 lead in their AL Division Series. The surprising White Sox are one win from advancing to the American League Championship Series for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005. Chicago became the first team to reach the postseason after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a post-1900 record 121 in 2024. Jo Adell hit an RBI triple in the eighth and Chase DeLauter had two hits for the Guardians. Gavin Williams struck out 11, tied for second-most in a Cleveland postseason game. But the offense failed to produce for the second straight game. Grant Taylor worked 1⅓ innings and allowed one hit as he got his second straight save. The best-of-five series shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Wednesday. The White Sox went ahead with a three-run sixth. Vargas led off with a base hit to chase Williams and advanced to second on a groundout. Randal Grichuk drew a walk before Erik Sabrowski's wild pitch with Tommy Pham at the plate advanced the runners to second and third. Pham flied out to shallow left before Montgomery jumped on a first-pitch fastball to drive in the go-ahead runs. Montgomery celebrated at first base before scoring on Chase Meidroth's single to right. Williams allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings. Burke struck out six and threw 83 pitches, including 53 strikes. Taylor entered and allowed an RBI triple to Adell before Nathaniel Lowe flied out to end the inning. Steven Kwan led off with a base hit and José Ramírez drew a walk before Chase DeLauter's grounder off opener Anthony Kay moved the runners to second and third. Sean Newcomb came on and intentionally walked Adell to load the bases. Lowe hit a high chopper to drive in Kwan, but Newcomb threw it wide of the bag at first, allowing Ramírez to score on the error. It marked the first time in four games this postseason the White Sox were behind. Kay faced three batters and threw 17 pitches, including eight strikes.