The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on October 5 at Progressive Field, taking a 2-0 series lead and moving one win from their first American League Championship Series appearance since 2005.
Cleveland scored first, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning after a throwing error by White Sox starter Sean Newcomb let Steven Kwan and José Ramírez score. Chicago answered in the fourth, when Munetaka Murakami's RBI single drove in Kyle Teel to cut the deficit to 2-1. The White Sox broke the game open in the sixth: Braden Montgomery's two-run double scored both Zach Grichuk and Miguel Vargas for a 3-2 lead, and Chase Meidroth followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2. Cleveland's Jhonkensy Noel tripled home Kyle DeLauter in the eighth to pull within 4-3, but the Guardians couldn't complete the comeback.
Sean Burke, who also started the White Sox's Wild Card sweep of the Houston Astros, earned the win with 5.1 innings of one-hit relief, striking out six. Grant Taylor closed it out for his second save of the postseason.
The win is Chicago's fourth straight road victory to open the 2026 postseason, following a sweep of the Astros in the Wild Card round — the first playoff appearance for a team that lost 121 games just two seasons ago, and the franchise's first series win of any kind since its 2005 World Series championship. A win in Game 3 tonight at Rate Field would send the White Sox to the ALCS for the first time in 21 years. Starting pitchers for Game 3, which airs on TBS, had not been announced as of Wednesday morning.
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