The Chicago White Sox fumbled an opportunity to sweep the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series on Wednesday. Chicago took the first two contests of the best-of-five series in Cleveland and returned home with serious momentum. Jose Ramirez had a huge performance for the Guardians as Cleveland bounced back with a 9-3 victory. The White Sox are still in a respectable position, but Game 3 was a forgettable performance for them to say the least.

So, which White Sox are the most to blame for Wednesday's lackluster contest?

White Sox pitching

Selecting only one or two pitchers would have been too difficult here. Sean Newcomb started the game and turned in a strong first inning as the opener. Bryan Hudson and Hagen Smith endured a disastrous second inning, however. Hudson allowed runners to get on base and Smith was unable to shut the door.

The pitchers allowed four combined runs in the inning, three of which were charged to Hudson.

Noah Schultz proved some length out of the bullpen, allowing one run across three innings. Tyler Davis followed him with a scoreless inning. However, David Sandlin and Davis Martin each allowed two runs in their innings of work in the 8th and 9th inning.

The Guardians' offense had been quiet through the first two games of the series. It made noise to say the least in Game 3. The question is whether or not Cleveland's lineup can carry its momentum into Game 4. If it can, the White Sox will be in trouble, as the Guardians' pitching has been strong for the most part.

Speaking of pitching, Cleveland set a new record for most strikeouts in a nine-inning postseason game by striking out 19 White Sox, according to Talkin' Baseball. That leads us to our next White Sox player to blame.

Munetaka Murakami

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Murakami has emerged as one of the best home run hitters in the sport. However, he also has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game. Murakami, batting third in the lineup, went 0-4 with three strikeouts on Wednesday afternoon.

He was one of two players to record a hat trick (three strikeouts in a game), as Tristan Peters also achieved the unfortunate feat. Peters, however, also recorded a base-hit and an RBI.

Murakami was also one of just three White Sox batters to fail to record a hit in the game. Braden Montgomery (0-3) and Colson Montgomery (0-3) also went hitless in the ball game.

Chicago's pitching did not do the team any favors. Even if Murakami struck out less or had a hit, the Sox still may have dropped this game. When your No. 3 hitter goes hitless and strikes out three times, however, an offense is simply going to struggle to find consistency