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White Sox rally past Guardians bullpen, spoil 11-strikeout effort from Gavin Williams for 2-0 ALDS lead

The Chicago White Sox rallied against the Cleveland Guardians bullpen to earn a 4-3 victory in Game 2 of the ALDS, securing a 2-0 series lead. Chicago overcame an 11-strikeout performance from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams and is now one win away from advancing to the American League Championship Series.

With the victory, the White Sox improved to 4-0 in the 2026 postseason.

Williams delivered a historic outing for the Guardians, tying for the second-most strikeouts ever by a Cleveland pitcher in a postseason contest, trailing only the 12 recorded by Charles Nagy in the 1996 ALDS. Williams also became the franchise's first pitcher to tally at least 10 strikeouts in a playoff game since Bartolo Colon achieved the mark in 2001.

After throwing 98 pitches, Williams was removed from the mound in the sixth inning.

Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt praised his starting pitcher after the game, stating, "We couldn't have asked anything more from Gavin tonight. He did his job and then some." During the regular season, the Guardians bullpen ranked third in the American League in ERA and first in MLB in strikeout rate, but the unit faltered in relief of Williams.

The White Sox began their sixth-inning rally when third baseman Miguel Vargas led off with a single. After Williams exited, Cleveland reliever Erik Sabrowski issued a walk and uncorked a wild pitch before White Sox rookie Braden Montgomery hit a go-ahead, two-run double with two outs.

Chase Meidroth extended the Chicago lead later in the inning by delivering an RBI single off Cleveland reliever Hunter Gaddis.

Earlier in the contest, Steven Kwan opened the bottom of the first inning with a single off Chicago starter Anthony Kay, who allowed two of the first three Cleveland batters to reach base safely. That sequence resulted in the White Sox yielding their first deficit of the postseason.

Through the first two games of the series, the Guardians offense has produced three runs and seven total hits.

Chicago opened the series with a 3-0 victory in Game 1, which represented the franchise's first ALDS win since 2005. In that opener, rookie first baseman Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, Colson Montgomery contributed an RBI double, and the pitching staff limited Cleveland to three hits.

Cleveland loaded the bases in both the third and fourth innings of Game 1 without scoring a run. During that opening game, Chicago media members Dave Williams and Jordan Lazowski texted the White Sox organization regarding the Guardians stealing signs.

This report also draws on coverage from Awful Announcing, Fox Sports.

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