The Cleveland Guardians named rookie left-hander Parker Messick their starter for Thursday’s American League Division Series Game 4 against the Chicago White Sox, sticking with the rotation plan they set before the series began.
Cleveland trails 2-1 in the best-of-five matchup and faces elimination at Rate Field. A victory would send the series back to Progressive Field for a decisive Game 5 on Saturday.
Messick will pitch on four days’ rest. He opened the series Saturday and has not appeared since.
MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins confirmed the assignment Wednesday after the Guardians stayed alive with a 9-3 win in Game 3.
“Parker Messick will start for the Guardians in Game 4, as expected,” Stebbins wrote.
The 25-year-old from Plant City, Florida, worked 4 1/3 innings in Game 1. He allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks and struck out six in Cleveland’s 3-0 loss.
Munetaka Murakami supplied the damage with a two-run homer. It was the only extra-base hit Messick surrendered that night.
Messick closed the regular season 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA. He logged 186 1/3 innings across 32 starts, struck out 193 and walked 49 for a 1.06 WHIP.
Those numbers ranked among the best for any rookie starter. His ERA was the lowest by a qualified rookie with at least 30 starts since Jon Matlack’s 2.32 mark in 1972.
He faced the White Sox four times in the regular season and went 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA. In 25 2/3 innings he allowed eight earned runs, struck out 29 and walked five.
That familiarity includes a June 23 outing at Rate Field in which he struck out 10 over 7 2/3 innings and permitted two runs.
His Game 1 start was the first postseason opening assignment for a Guardians rookie pitcher since Ryan Merritt threw 4 1/3 shutout innings in the 2016 AL Championship Series.
Manager Stephen Vogt had already slotted Messick and Gavin Williams as the club’s top two starters for the series. Wednesday’s bullpen game let the staff cycle back to Messick without an extra day of rest.
Cleveland’s offense produced 11 hits in the Game 3 win, including triples from Jo Adell and Jose Ramirez. The Guardians’ pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts, an MLB postseason record for a nine-inning game.
The White Sox won the first two games at Progressive Field by scores of 3-0 and 4-3. Chicago will counter Thursday with left-hander Hagen Smith as an opener.
