José Ramírez's fourth-inning home run was the only scoring play in the deciding game. Steven Kwan was aboard when Ramírez drove the ball to right, giving Cleveland a 2–0 lead. The Guardians then protected it through 21 strikeouts and a sixth-inning bases-loaded escape, eliminating the White Sox on October 10.
Cleveland won the ALDS 3–2 after losing the first two games. Chicago had entered the third game one win from advancement and finished the fifth without scoring. The final result was a reversal in both series position and the form of the Guardians' wins: nine runs in each of Games 3 and 4, then two runs and a shutout in the decider.
Gavin Williams struck out 12 in 5⅔ innings, allowing one hit and two walks while also hitting a batter. Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith added nine strikeouts over the remaining 3⅓ innings. The Sox had three hits and two walks but did not turn any of those baserunners into a completed scoring sequence.
The game was not a failure of every part of Chicago's performance. Sean Burke allowed two runs over five innings, and the bullpen kept Cleveland scoreless afterward. The Sox's pitching held a manageable target in place. Their offense could not produce the two runs needed to remove it.
Ramírez supplies the margin
Kwan reached ahead of Ramírez's fourth-inning homer, making the shot worth two runs. It was Ramírez's only hit in three at-bats, and he also walked. Kwan finished with a hit, a walk and the other Cleveland run.
Those two players supplied the scoring value that the Guardians needed. Cleveland collected six hits, including two doubles by Petey Halpin, but did not add another run. Chase DeLauter and Jo Adell each singled. The offense created some additional contact without converting it into insurance.
That kept the pitching finish under pressure. A two-run lead can disappear through one swing with a runner aboard. Cleveland had to prevent Chicago from creating that outcome, including in the sixth when the Sox assembled their most immediate threat.
Burke worked five innings, allowing four hits without a walk and striking out four on 71 pitches. The Ramírez homer accounted for both runs charged to him. The Sox were not conceding repeated scoring innings, but the one they allowed became decisive because their own lineup remained scoreless.
Williams restricts the contact
Williams obtained 17 outs, 12 by strikeout. Chicago repeatedly lost plate appearances without making Cleveland's fielders complete a play. The starter threw 94 pitches, 65 for strikes, while permitting only one hit.
He struck out the side in the fourth, getting Kyle Teel, Vargas and Murakami. That inning came immediately before Cleveland's scoring half, keeping the game level while the Guardians prepared the opportunity that would change it.
The strikeouts did not mean Williams avoided all baserunners. He walked two and hit Colson Montgomery in the sixth. The game eventually required an inherited-runner escape, showing the difference between a dominant overall pitching line and a completely untroubled departure.
Tristan Peters, Teel and Antonacci supplied Chicago's three hits. Peters also walked. The Sox did not record an extra-base hit, leaving their offense dependent on connecting singles, walks and other baserunners into a longer sequence. Cleveland's strikeouts repeatedly interrupted that possibility.
The sixth-inning escape
Montgomery was hit by a pitch to begin the sixth. Williams struck out Brenton Doyle and retired Antonacci on a fly ball, but Teel then singled and Vargas walked. Chicago had loaded the bases with two outs, placing the tying runs in the same immediate scoring opportunity.
Sabrowski entered and struck out the next hitter on five pitches, leaving all three inherited runners on base. The appearance lasted one out in the pitching line, but it protected the game at the moment Chicago had finally assembled several routes onto the bases.
The escape preserved Williams' scoreless line and Cleveland's two-run advantage. It also prevented the Sox from turning a largely unsuccessful offensive game into a tied contest through one late hit. The Guardians still needed more outs, but the most urgent inherited threat had been removed.
Gaddis followed with 1⅓ scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four without a walk. Smith recorded the final five outs, four by strikeout, without permitting a hit or walk. Cleveland's relievers continued the starter's primary method of limiting contact while managing the opportunities that remained.
Chicago's bullpen keeps the game reachable
Sean Newcomb worked two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. Grant Taylor added a scoreless inning without a hit, although he walked two. The Sox's relief group prevented Cleveland from widening the deficit after Burke left.
That work made another Chicago scoring opportunity potentially meaningful. The game did not move beyond reach through a large late Guardians inning. The target remained two runs, but the Sox did not complete the offense needed to reach it.
Cleveland finished with 21 strikeouts, seven from its relievers. Those totals describe the deciding game without requiring an unverified claim about a historical record. The meaningful distinction is that most of Chicago's outs arrived before the ball could be put in play.
The series reversal is complete
The Guardians' three consecutive wins followed a 3–0 opening loss and a 4–3 defeat in Game 2. Cleveland then scored nine in each of its road wins to force the decider. Ramírez's homer and the pitching staff's shutout finished the recovery with a different kind of result.
Chicago's postseason ended after it could not convert its original two-game advantage into the final win. The deciding loss was especially narrow in its requirements: the Sox needed two runs to tie, and their pitchers kept that target fixed. Cleveland prevented the necessary scoring contact.
Ramírez supplied the only runs, Williams supplied the largest share of the outs, and Sabrowski supplied the bases-loaded escape. Gaddis and Smith completed the remaining innings. The Guardians advanced because all of those contributions protected the same two-run lead until Chicago had no game left in which to answer.
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