The Chicago White Sox had a chance to finish off the Cleveland Guardians at home on Wednesday night. Instead, Cleveland punched back with a 9-3 win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, and Jimmy Rollins believes Chicago cannot afford to let the series drag any further.
On TNT Sports, the former Philadelphia Phillies star said closing out a series is never easy, especially against a team with its back against the wall.
“Closing out is tough,” he said. “They have nowhere to go. They literally have nowhere to go. There is no tomorrow. Everything that they have left in them is going to be on that field.”
Rollins felt that desperation in Game 3, and he wondered whether Cleveland could bottle it up again.
“Everything that could have went right, they willed it to go right,” Rollins said. “Will they have that same energy tomorrow?”
Jo Adell broke the game open with a three-run triple in the third inning, and Jose Ramirez, who had gone hitless in the first two games, added a two-run triple in the eighth. Reliever Foster Griffin struck out seven over 2 2/3 innings, a franchise postseason record for a reliever, as White Sox hitters went down on strikes 19 times.
Still, Rollins does not think one lopsided loss should rattle Chicago.
“Tomorrow is a reset. It's a brand new day,” Rollins said. “If you're the Sox, hey, they got their one win. We didn't expect to sweep them anyway. But one thing we're not going to do is go back to Cleveland.”
That last point carries weight. The White Sox still lead the best-of-five series 2-1 after taking the first two games at Progressive Field. A loss in Game 4 on Thursday would send the series back to Cleveland for a winner-take-all Game 5.
The White Sox have already defied expectations this October. After a 60-102 season a year ago, they swept the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series for the franchise's first playoff series win since 2005.
One more win sends Chicago to the ALCS. Cleveland will hand the ball to left-hander Parker Messick, who went 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA during the regular season, as it tries to force a decisive fifth game.