The Cleveland Guardians on Thursday exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to beat the Chicago White Sox 9-5 and force a deciding Game 5 in their MLB playoff series.
Jose Ramirez belted a two-run home run in the fifth inning and delivered a run-scoring single in the Guardians’ big sixth to help Cleveland win a second straight game in Chicago after dropping the first two games of the best-of-five American League Division Series at home.
Having denied the White Sox’s bid to clinch a playoff series at home for the first time since 1906, the Guardians were to host Game 5 yesterday.
Photo: AFP
“I think it’s going to be crazy,” Ramirez said of the decider.
“It’s going to be incredible energy. For us, it’s going to be the same mindset: Try to win the game and enjoy the environment,” said Ramirez, who followed pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey’s solo homer in the fifth by belting a fastball from White Sox relief pitcher Jordan Hicks into the bullpen for a two-run home run that put the Guardians up 3-2.
“It was Jose Ramirez being Jose Ramirez in the playoffs,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of the Dominican, whose regular-season success has not always translated into the post-season. “Hicks with a great fastball and Josy got to it ... big moment for him, big moment for us.”
Photo: AFP
The White Sox edged back in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Cleveland poured it on in the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate.
Angel Martinez was hit by a pitch to take first and stole second. He scored on Travis Bazzana’s double.
Bailey, Ramirez, Chase de Lauter and Jo Adell added run-scoring hits.
The White Sox, trying to extend a fairytale year that has seen them bounce back from three straight 100-loss seasons to improbably reach the playoffs, scored their first four runs on a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a pair of sacrifice flys.
Miguel Vargas led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run off Guardians relief pitcher Cade Smith to briefly energize the Chicago crowd.
However, after Munetaka Murakami walked, Cleveland sent their ace starting pitcher Gavin Williams to the mound. He gave up a single to Sam Antonacci before retiring the next three batters to seal the win.
Williams was the eighth pitcher to take the mound for the Guardians. The White Sox used seven, with starter Hagen Smith exiting in the first inning after recording two outs, but walking the bases loaded to get the hook after 27 pitches.
Chicago reliever Grant Taylor, who pitched 5-1/2 scoreless innings in the first two games of the series, gave up four runs on four hits without recording an out in the sixth inning.
The winners of the series are to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Championship Series, with a World Series berth on the line.
The Rays, the top seeds in the AL, polished off a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees on Wednesday.
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