José Ramírez homers as the Guardians beat the White Sox 9-5 to force a decisive Game 5 in ALDS

“As we’ve battled back and forth with these guys, obviously fitting that it’s going to come down to this,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “It’s been how the back and forth has been all year.”

Chicago’s bullpen — one of its biggest strengths in a surprising season — is suddenly looking very tired. Grant Taylor was hit hard after pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings over the first two games of the series, allowing four runs and four hits without retiring any of the six batters he faced during Cleveland’s rally in the sixth.

Miguel Vargas homered late for the White Sox, who flopped in their second straight bid to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since the 1906 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Sam Antonacci drove in two runs.

All-Star closer Cade Smith worked a scoreless eighth for Cleveland but then gave up Vargas’ first postseason homer and a walk to start the ninth. He was replaced by Williams, who was making his first career relief appearance and could still start Game 5 as well.

The right-hander needed 18 pitches to get the final three outs Thursday after throwing 98 on Monday. He was the seventh Guardians reliever as the teams combined to use 15 pitchers in a game that took 3 hours, 39 minutes.

Williams went 14-8 this season and led the AL with 248 strikeouts.

Cleveland trailed 2-0 before rallying in the fifth. Bailey led off with a pinch-hit homer, and Steven Kwan chased Erick Fedde with a one-out single.

Jordan Hicks came in and Ramírez drove a 99.9 mph fastball deep to right-center for just his second homer since Sept. 1, a span of 26 games. The seven-time All-Star had surgery after he broke a bone in his left hand on a swing June 13.

It was Ramírez’s first postseason homer since 2024 and No. 5 overall. He also starred in Game 3, finishing with two hits and two RBIs in Cleveland’s 9-3 victory.

Chicago responded with two runs in the bottom half, sending a charge through the crowd of 39,920. Antonacci was hit by a pitch from Tim Herrin with the bases loaded, and Brenton Doyle made it 4-3 with a sacrifice fly. The White Sox had the bases loaded with two down, but rookie Braden Montgomery struck out swinging against winning pitcher Erik Sabrowski.

Antonacci has been plunked 33 times this year, including a franchise-record 29 in the regular season. The rookie became the first player in postseason history to be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded multiple times in a career, after he was also plunked in the same situation in Game 3.

Losing pitcher Anthony Kay started the sixth for Chicago, but the left-hander was replaced by Taylor after Travis Bazzana’s RBI double tied it at 4. Bailey greeted Taylor with a run-scoring single, and Cleveland started to pull away.

Walks by Brayan Rocchio and Kwan loaded the bases for Ramírez, who made it 6-4 with an infield single. Chase DeLauter added another run-scoring single before Adell capped the outburst with a liner to right that drove in Kwan and Ramírez.

“They’re making really good swing decisions. They’re making contact. We talked about how good a job they do of doing that,” Venable said. “When you walk guys, they make you pay. We were able to get away with it a couple times the first couple games. These last two, just weren’t able to.”

Adell hit a three-run triple during Cleveland’s Game 3 victory. He has four hits, three walks and six RBIs in the series.

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Jay Cohen, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

José Ramírez homers as the Guardians beat the White Sox 9-5 to force a decisive Game 5 in ALDS

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