The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians have met 16 times between the regular season and the first three games of the American League Division Series.
And they’ve been separated by one run — 69 for the Guardians and 68 for the Sox.
“It’s been incredible,” Sox manager Will Venable said of the matchups ahead of Thursday’s Game 4 at Rate Field. “I think we’re very different teams, but the way that these clubs are built as far as the character of each team, it’s very clear that you got a bunch of good guys on both sides that go out and play the game the right way. They’re very talented players. They play very hard.
“It’s been fun to watch. It’s tough and obviously they’re very competitive, but we’re very competitive, and it’s been a great battle. But it has been fun to watch, and it’s cool that it’s coming down to this series here where we have an opportunity to continue that battle. Someone’s going to leave here having won that battle, but you look at the course of this year and really the season of the battle between us, there’s some cool stuff that really has been fun to watch.”
With the Sox holding a 2-1 edge in the ALDS, here’s what to know before Game 4.
Amped up
Venable saw Game 3 as a “very good tutorial” for Game 4.
“It’s really just the environment,” Venable said. “We talked about it (Wednesday), that we knew this was going to be a juiced-up environment, and I thought it impacted us. I thought you saw us chase a lot more.
“I think it was one of our highest chase rates of the year. We were a little sped up (Wednesday), so we get to hit the reset button on understanding the environment a little bit better — (Guardians starter Parker) Messick, a guy we just faced, we know him well. So at this point, there’s not going to be any secrets, especially as far as the environment goes, having experienced it (Wednesday).”
The Sox struck out 19 times in Game 3 — the most in a nine-inning postseason game in MLB history.
“Obviously you play in front of a crowd like that, you get amped up and maybe swing at pitches you wouldn’t normally swing at,” Sox outfielder Tristan Peters said. “I also think, too, the offense (Wednesday), we ran into a few balls, but they also found gloves. That was a tough side of it too. I think we put together some pretty good at-bats.
“But yeah, maybe having a little more patience is going to help.”
Familiar foe
Thursday marked the sixth time the Sox have faced Messick. That includes Game 1 at Progressive Field, when the left-hander allowed two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Messick struck out six and walked two in the 3-0 loss to the Sox
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on Saturday.“We’ve seen him a lot,” Peters said. “I think we know how he’s going to pitch us. Maybe he changes it up a little bit, but we know what he’s got. I’m very confident in our guys that we’ll hit him well.”
On the mound
Hagen Smith assumed he would be available after pitching two-thirds of an inning Wednesday.
“I feel good,” the lefty said after the game.
The Sox turned to Smith to start Game 4 as the opener. Options for bulk included Erick Fedde and Anthony Kay.
Smith allowed one run on one hit with two walks Wednesday, including the three-run triple to Jo Adell in the third inning.
“I thought Hagen was good,” Venable said. “The walk there obviously wasn’t great, and we talked about how free passes were going to impact this series. Got away with it the first couple games. Obviously didn’t (Wednesday, walking 10 as a team). The Adell bat, I thought Adell did a good job of covering the heater going the other way.
“I thought Hagen looked good. I thought the stuff looked good. Just maybe a little bit of execution there that put him in a little bit of a tough spot. He’s our guy. We’ve leaned on him the entire postseason. Excited he’s taking the ball to give us a start.”
Here’s the Sox lineup, with Smith getting the start.
- Chase Meidroth 2B
- Randal Grichuk LF
- Miguel Vargas 3B
- Munetaka Murakami 1B
- Tommy Pham DH
- Brenton Doyle CF
- Kyle Teel C
- Braden Montgomery RF
- Colson Montgomery SS