Guardians Hand Rookie Messick the Ball for Do-or-Die ALDS Game 4 in Chicago

The Cleveland Guardians are going down swinging with their rookie. Manager Stephen Vogt confirmed 25-year-old left-hander Parker Messick will start Thursday night's ALDS Game 4 against the Chicago White Sox, keeping Cleveland's expected rotation plan intact with the season on the line. First pitch was flexed to primetime — 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) on TBS, truTV and HBO Max — after the Tampa Bay Rays completed their sweep of the Yankees and cleared the Thursday night window. Chicago leads the best-of-five series 2-1 and can close it out at Rate Field; a Guardians win forces a winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday at Progressive Field, also at 8 p.m. ET. Messick gets the ball on four days' rest after starting the series opener, when he allowed two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings with six strikeouts in a 3-0 loss — the first Guardians rookie to start a postseason game since Ryan Merritt in 2016. The 25-year-old finished the regular season 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA across 32 starts and went 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA in five outings against the White Sox. Chicago counters with left-hander Hagen Smith (3-3, 1.29 ERA) in a battle of young arms. Cleveland's bats finally woke up in Game 3, pounding out 11 hits in a 9-3 win that set a postseason record with 19 strikeouts, with Jo Adell and Jose Ramirez each tripling. The winner of this series draws the Rays in the ALCS; the Dodgers and Brewers open the NLCS in Milwaukee on Sunday.