CLEVELAND — Just three weeks ago in this same ballpark, the White Sox had a potentially season-defining matchup against the Guardians and their towering right-hander Gavin Williams, and it even featured Sean Burke pitching behind an opener.
Tristan Peters ended Williams’ night with an 18-pitch battle that ended in a walk, and keyed a six-run White Sox’ sixth, while Burke allowed one unearned run in five innings of an eventual 7-3 win.
The Sox lineup for Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday offers only small variations from their previous gameplan.
- Sam Antonacci, LF
- Kyle Teel, C
- Miguel Vargas, 3B
- Munetaka Murakami, 1B
- Andrew Benintendi, DH
- Tristan Peters, CF
- Braden Montgomery, RF
- Chase Meidroth, 2B
- Colson Montgomery, SS
Literally the only difference is that Colson and Braden Montgomery (no relation) have switched places in the batting order. The switch-hitting Braden Montgomery is a candidate to be pinch-hit for against left-handed relievers, the lefty-swinging Colson Montgomery who actually performed better against southpaws all year and only has the light-hitting Luisangel Acuna who can man shortstop in his stead, is less of one.
Even Sox manager Will Venable is talking about the matchup similar to how he did in September.
“I don’t know how anyone hits Gavin Williams,” Venable said. “You’re going to have to cover a number of different pitches. You’re going to have to foul some pitches off. You’re going to have to find a way to put some balls in play and make it tough on him to get through our lineup.”
The White Sox will have left-hander Anthony Kay open the game for them on the mound, with Burke slated to follow at some point, but not necessarily immediately after Kay is done.
“We’re just going to kind of feel out the game, and whenever my name gets called to pitch, I’ll be ready to go,” Burke said. “The way we’re doing this is really just like a team effort from the pitching side.”
Notably, the Guardians have not taken the bait. Despite the left-handed Kay opening the game, Cleveland is starting the left-handed Nathaniel Lowe at first base rather than David Fry, who started against Hagen Smith in Game 1. Similarly, the switch-hitting Patrick Bailey is behind the plate, rather than the right-handed Austin Hedges, who also started in Game 1.
- Steven Kwan, CF
- Jose Ramirez, 3B
- Chase DeLauter, RF
- Jo Adell, DH
- Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
- Angel Martinez, LF
- Travis Bazzana, 2B
- Patrick Bailey, C
- Brayan Rocchio, SS
“They’ve announced an opener, but we know who they have available and what it felt like today going into today’s game,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “This is a game Patrick Bailey is going to catch. So, it gives us the switch-hitter at the bottom to match up with the bullpen. With Nate, kind of looking at how Saturday went with only getting one at bat out of David Fry. If we’re going to get one at bat out of David Fry, we’d like that in a leverage spot.”
That could provide some extra incentive for Venable to stick with Kay for a bit longer than expected, two days after he threw 22 pitches in Game 1. Or, the Sox could choose to slide another left-hander in like Sean Newcomb or Noah Schultz behind Kay, before turning to Burke.