Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Guardians: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| CLE | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 2 |
The Story
The Cleveland Guardians walked off the Chicago White Sox 6-5 on July 2, 2026 at Progressive Field, with Brayan Rocchio delivering a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth off Grant Taylor that swung win probability by 79.5 points and moved the DiamondIQ model's estimate from a competitive game to a final certainty of 100 percent in Cleveland's favor. The Guardians had trailed heading into the late innings, making Rocchio's blast the decisive moment of the contest after what had been a back-and-forth game. Cleveland finished with six runs on nine hits and committed two errors, while Chicago went 5-for-10 in runs scored with a clean fielding performance.
Chicago had built its lead through a productive middle stretch, with Kyle Teel delivering a double off Slade Cecconi in the top of the fifth that carried a 16.4-point win-probability swing, helping the White Sox push across three runs in that frame to take a 3-2 lead. Chase Meidroth then added a home run off Cecconi in the top of the sixth, a swing worth 14.6 win-probability points, giving Chicago a 5-3 advantage entering the back half of the game. Cleveland chipped away with David Fry's home run off Brandon Eisert in the bottom of the seventh, a 15.2-point swing that tightened the deficit, but it was Rocchio who finished it, ending a Cleveland ninth that saw Chase DeLauter's groundout in the eighth represent a 16.5-point drain on Cleveland's chances before the comeback materialized.
Rocchio was the clear standout by DiamondIQ metrics, finishing with a combined WPA of plus-81.7 percent and a RE24 of plus-2.2, the overwhelming driver of Cleveland's victory. On the pitching side, Chris Murphy led White Sox relievers with a plus-16.7 percent WPA contribution, while Shawn Armstrong added plus-11.2 percent for Chicago. The DiamondIQ model had opened the game with a modest 54 percent pre-game lean toward Cleveland, a number that proved prescient, though the path to that outcome ran almost entirely through one at-bat in the bottom of the ninth.