Bases loaded. Two outs. The White Sox one swing away from getting back in the game. Munetaka Murakami watched three 94-95 mph fastballs split the middle of the plate and walked back to the dugout without ever pulling the trigger. That at-bat in the sixth inning of Game 5 at Progressive Field — courtesy of left-handed reliever Erik Sabrowski — was essentially Chicago’s last breath. Cleveland won 2-0 and punched its ticket to the ALCS after one of the more stunning comebacks in recent playoff memory.
The At-Bat Nobody in Chicago Wants to Replay
The White Sox had spent most of the night being dominated by Gavin Williams, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and racked up 12 strikeouts over 5⅔ frames. Then Kyle Teel singled — Chicago’s first hit of the game — and suddenly the bases were loaded with two outs. The most important plate appearance of the White Sox’s season landed on the shoulders of the man with 35 home runs during the regular year.
Cleveland’s manager didn’t hesitate. He yanked Williams and brought in the lefty Sabrowski to face the left-handed-hitting Murakami. What followed was textbook. According to the breakdown by @picksdepolo, Sabrowski went fastball-fastball-fastball, all 94-95 mph, all through the heart of the zone — the precise location pitchers target when the scouting report flags a hitter’s whiff rate as a weakness. Murakami didn’t touch any of them. Three pitches, three strikes, three outs. The 2-0 lead held.
The Comeback That’s Already in the History Books
Murakami’s strikeout was the gut punch, but the game’s story was written earlier by José Ramírez. In the fourth inning, JRam went down and got a two-run homer off Sean Burke — a curveball, ankles-high — that turned out to be the only runs of the night. Cleveland’s bullpen did the rest, snuffing out every Chicago threat the rest of the way.
The number that best captures how the night went: 21 strikeouts for the White Sox, an MLB record for any nine-inning game — regular season or postseason. It broke the previous mark of 20 set by Detroit in an earlier postseason.
Chicago had led the American League in runs per game during the regular season. None of that translated when it mattered most. Cleveland also became just the fourth team in MLB history to win a best-of-five series after dropping the first two games at home. The White Sox had taken Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland; the Guardians won three straight to close it out 3-2 and advance to the ALCS.
Why Fastballs Down the Middle Were Always the Answer
Sabrowski’s sequencing wasn’t a gut call — it was scouting. Murakami’s 2026 Statcast profile is one of the most fascinating contradictions in the game. When he makes contact, he’s elite: a 93.9 mph average exit velocity (98th percentile) and a barrel rate in the 100th percentile — meaning when he squares one up, almost no one hits it harder. But his whiff rate sits in the 1st percentile and his squared-up rate in the 7th percentile. When pitchers attack him with velocity in the right spots and don’t give him anything to sit on, he misses at an alarming rate. His 35.4% strikeout rate in the regular season was already telling that story.
Sabrowski didn’t reinvent the wheel. He just executed exactly what the scouting sheet said: three fastballs, three strikes, and the book closed on Murakami’s first season in the big leagues.
Murakami’s 2026 Numbers at a Glance
- 553 plate appearances
- 35 home runs, 77 RBI
- AVG: .207 | OPS: .825
- xwOBA: .351 (86th percentile)
- Exit velocity: 93.9 mph (98th percentile)
- Barrel rate: 20.5% (100th percentile)
- Hard-hit rate: 56.8% (99th percentile)
- Bat speed: 74.7 mph (80th percentile)
- Whiff rate: 1st percentile
- Squared-up rate: 7th percentile
- Chase rate: 91st percentile
The profile is almost paradoxical: one of the most dangerous barrels in baseball attached to one of the most exploitable swing-and-miss rates in the league. On Friday night in Cleveland, Sabrowski found the crack in the armor at the worst possible moment for Chicago.
