CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians have picked a bad time for their offense to go cold again.
Manager Stephen Vogt's squad had one of the worst offenses in the American League before turning it on after the Aug. 3 trade deadline en route to winning its third straight AL Central title.
The offensive surge hasn't carried into the postseason.
Cleveland had only four hits in Monday's 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox in Game 2 of their AL Division Series. The Guardians managed just three hits in Saturday's 3-0 loss.
The Guardians had a .231 batting average before the trade deadline, second-worst in the American League. But from Aug. 3 until the end of the regular season, they batted .255, which ranked third.
They don't have much time to get things back on track, with Game 3 on Wednesday in Chicago as Cleveland tries to avoid getting swept in a Division Series for the first time since 2018 against Houston.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of flushing games. Have the day off tomorrow, make sure we have some good focus, but obviously, yeah, not how you wanted to finish Game 2,” outfielder Steven Kwan said.
It is only the fourth time since Division Series started in 1995 that a team has had seven or fewer hits over the first two games. The others were the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers, 2010 Cincinnati Reds (who were no-hit by Philadelphia in Game 1) and 2018 Cleveland Indians.
Cleveland's leadoff hitter has reached base only twice in the two games and the team is 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
The White Sox going with bullpen games in the first two games of the series has also put Cleveland hitters off balance.
“They made great pitches and we battled and we haven’t given any at-bats away. And I think the name of the game is, `Who Lands a Pitch?’ And when they made those mistakes, we just weren’t able to capitalize maybe in the way we wanted to, but that’s part of the game," outfielder Jo Adell said.
Adell gave Cleveland some fleeting hope in the eighth with an RBI triple to get the Guardians within one run. But then Nathaniel Lowe flied out to end the inning.
“We put good swings up (in the late innings) and I think that’s what we’re capable of,” Adell said. “We had a lot of those balls that, mine included, I for sure though it was out and it’s one of those days where it didn’t travel that way and that’s the way the game is. But we’re convicted in our approach and our at-bats and we have a bunch of really good players in here, so we’re going to continue to fight.”
Cleveland's struggles on offense wasted a strong start from Gavin Williams, whose 11 strikeouts were tied for second-most in team history in a postseason game.
The right-hander — who led the AL in strikeouts this season — struck out eight in the first three innings and became the first pitcher in franchise history to whiff five straight in a postseason game. He also had 16 pitches over 100 mph, the fourth-most by an AL pitcher in a playoff game since tracking started in 2008.
His 0-2 fastball to Munetaka Murakami in the fourth inning registered 101.2 mph, which was the hardest pitch of his career.
“I feel like I’ve been doing it all year. It just wasn’t today. I know I’ve hit 101 a couple times this year, but could be the juices, too,” Williams said. “I don’t think I was too worried about the strikeouts. Just trying to put the team in a good position to win.”
Williams — who allowed two runs and four hits — came out in the sixth after allowing a leadoff single to Miguel Vargas. The White Sox scored three times that inning off Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis to take the lead.
“We couldn’t have asked any more from Gavin other than maybe a few more pitches. He did his job and then some. That is a big-time performance by a big-time pitcher,” Vogt said.
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Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams celebrates after completing the top of the fourth inning of Game 2 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams hands the game ball to manager Stephen Vogt, right, for a pitching change during the sixth inning of Game 2 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Guardians' Travis Bazzana reacts after hitting a fly out during the ninth inning of Game 2 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring contacts of an employee at a plague research institute in Siberia who contracted pneumonia of an “unknown” cause. Local state TV said the woman died last week.
Russian authorities said they found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with. But the case has raised alarm in Russia after unconfirmed media reports suggested she might have died of pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.
The woman worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, southeastern Siberia. A state TV station in Irkutsk reported Monday that she died last week in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk.
The hospital has been placed under quarantine, Mayor Maxim Modin said Friday, no longer admitting or discharging patients, and its laboratory halted carrying out routine tests. The hospital's outpatient clinic kept operating as usual, he said.
Anna Popova, head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk and met with Gov. Igor Kobzev and other officials on Friday.
Kobzev said everyone who came into contact with the woman is under medical supervision. He didn’t identify the infection and called it a suspected case of “a particularly dangerous infection.”
Rospotrebnadzor was implementing “a full range of anti-epidemic measures,” he added.
Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday the woman was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” or origin, and said “extensive” testing found “no microorganisms associated with the patient’s professional activities.”
The agency also said it didn't uncover any incidents at the institute “involving pathogenic microorganisms."
Two people who were in contact with the woman tested positive for a virus that causes a common cold and two others for COVID-19, the agency said, adding that others who were tested were all negative.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said he was watching the situation with concern and said the United States would be willing to help, though he said he had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation.
“It’s a rough disease. You know, that’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter. They’re like an army,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “Even with great advancement, the germs have really become relatively stronger than they were, and things that used to work on pneumonia don’t work as well anymore.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he doesn’t think there is cause for alarm, but the U.S. is watching the case closely, aware that “it could spread quickly” despite the quarantine and other public health protocols.
Independent local news outlet Lyudi Baikala quoted sources it did not identify as saying the 28-year-old lab technician died from pneumonic plague and that several Irkutsk hospitals were placed under quarantine.
Asked Monday to comment on the case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the public and media should follow official statements from Rospotrebnadzor, rather than "rumors or speculation.”
Rospotrebnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Irkutsk Aluminum Plant in Shelekhov required staff to wear masks as a precaution, its director Artyom Fominykh said Saturday on Telegram, calling for calm and adding: "Better be safe than sorry.”
The World Health Organization describes pneumonic plague as a less common but severe form of plague — a disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium usually found in small mammals and their fleas.
“In the event of a potential laboratory exposure, it would be normal to identify individuals who might have been exposed and to monitor them according to the assessed level of risk,” said Dr. Malick Gibani, clinical associate professor in bacterial vaccinology at the Imperial College London.
The scale of any monitoring program would depend on "the circumstances of the exposure and the number of people potentially affected,” Gibani said in a written comment.
Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said that “plague carries a huge history and is still present in many parts of the world, including Russia,” although because of modern living conditions and antibiotics, “its potential is therefore limited.”
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AP reporters Matthew Lee, Will Weissert and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.
This undated photo released in 2019 by the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East, shows the institute workers in a lab. (The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East via AP) ADDITION: adding photo was released in 2019
This undated photo released by the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East, shows the institute workers in a lab. (The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East via AP)
