José Ramírez and the Cleveland Guardians saved their season with the kind of offensive burst they had been waiting for all October.
Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox 9-5 in Game 4 of the ALDS, pushing the series to a decisive Game 5 after a night that featured one of the Guardians’ best offensive performances of the season.
The turning point came in the fifth inning, when the lineup finally started landing body blows. Patrick Bailey launched a solo homer to right, Steven Kwan followed with a single, and that set the stage for Ramírez. With one on and one out, he turned on a pitch and sent a two-run homer to right-center, putting Cleveland ahead 3-2.
That lead didn’t last long. Tanner Bibee gave up two runs in the sixth, and Chicago briefly moved back in front 4-3. But the Guardians answered with their biggest inning of the night - and maybe of their season.
Travis Bazzana doubled in a run, Bailey added an RBI single, and then the pressure kept building. Brayan Rocchio and Kwan drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Ramírez, who reached on an infield single that brought Bailey home.
Chase DeLauter followed with an RBI single to right, and Adell capped the rally with a single that drove in two more runs. By the time the inning ended, Cleveland had ripped open a 9-4 lead.
It was the first time Cleveland scored six runs in an inning since the eighth against the Houston Astros on April 21. It also marked just the second time in franchise history that the Guardians have scored nine or more runs in back-to-back playoff games, joining the 1997 club that did it against the Florida Marlins in the World Series.
That kind of production has been rare for this team. Cleveland finished the regular season with a .239 batting average, seventh-worst in baseball, and they were not built around the long ball either, ranking fourth-fewest in MLB with 162 home runs. But in Games 3 and 4, the bats came through when the margin for error disappeared, with the Guardians putting up nine runs in each game to stay alive.
Parker Messick got the ball for Cleveland but didn’t have a clean outing. The 25-year-old worked just 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, four walks and two earned runs while striking out five.
Cade Smith handled the final six outs, though the White Sox made him work for it. Miguel Vargas hit a solo home run off Smith, Munetaka Murakami walked, and that brought Stephen Vogt to Gavin Williams out of the bullpen. Williams gave up a single, then finished the game by recording the final three outs.
Williams needed only 18 pitches, which should leave him available as the starter for Game 5 in Cleveland.
Now the Guardians head home with their season still alive, one win away from advancing to the ALCS and a matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays.
In Other News...
Foster Griffin Gave Cleveland The Outing Nobody Saw Coming
Foster Griffin turned an unexpected bullpen call into one of the defining storylines of Game 3 of the American League Division Series, giving Cleveland a lift nobody likely had on the pregame card. In just his second major league relief appearance and his first this season, Griffin worked 2 2/3 innings and punched out seven, a showing that matched the clubs postseason record for strikeouts by a reliever and fit neatly into a night when Clevelands pitchers were overwhelming from top to bottom.
The bigger picture was even more striking. Clevelands staff combined for 19 strikeouts in the nine-inning game, setting an MLB postseason record, and Griffins burst helped underscore how much the Guardians leaned on a performance that came from an arm few could have expected to be central in October. For a team built on pitching depth, it was the kind of outing that can change how a postseason series feels, even if the larger question of where Griffin fits next is still waiting to be answered. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Just Forced The ALDS Back Into A Much Bigger Game 4
The Guardians made sure this ALDS is still very much alive, rolling past the White Sox 9-3 in Game 3 and trimming Chicagos series lead to 2-1. Cleveland got the kind of balanced night it needed, with Jos Ramrez delivering two hits and two RBIs, Jo Adell driving a three-run triple and Foster Griffin striking out a franchise postseason-record seven in 2 2/3 innings.
Game 4 now feels a lot bigger than it did before first pitch, with the series shifting back to Rate Field and Cleveland trying to turn one win into real pressure on a Chicago club that still holds the edge. The Guardians have already shown they can swing a game with timely hitting and a dominant relief effort, and now they get the chance to see whether that formula can force this matchup into a true grind down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Suddenly Need Their Deadline Bets To Save This Series
The Guardians got exactly the kind of boost they were hoping for from their deadline additions in Game 3, and they needed it. Foster Griffin covered 2.2 innings and earned the win, while Jo Adell delivered a three-run triple in a 9-3 victory over the White Sox that kept Cleveland alive in the ALDS and showed why front offices pay for late-season help.
Now the pressure shifts to Game 4, where Cleveland still has to avoid elimination and Parker Messick is scheduled to start. A series that looked like it might slip away suddenly has some life, but the Guardians will need the very players they added to stabilize the roster to keep extending it. [Read more 🡒]