Ramirez's walk-off homer lifts Indians to win over White Sox

[May 09, 2019]  Jose Ramirez belted a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning as the host Cleveland Indians posted a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

Francisco Lindor slapped a one-out single in the ninth inning off Jace Fry (1-1) and advanced to second following his second steal of the season. Ramirez brought him home after depositing a 3-1 fastball from Kelvin Herrera over the wall in right field for his first walk-off homer of his career.

Ramirez had been 1-for-10 lifetime against Herrera prior to recording his fourth career walk-off hit and first since Sept. 17, 2016 versus Detroit.

Tyler Naquin ripped a two-run single and Leonys Martin drove in a run for the Indians, who snapped a three-game losing skid in which they had been outscored by a 21-1 margin.

Ryan Cordell had a two-run single and Jose Abreu homered for the third time in five games for the White Sox, who were thwarted in their bid to defeat the Indians in four consecutive contests for the first time since July 23-26, 2015.

Brad Hand (2-1) retired all three batters he faced in the top of the ninth inning to pick up the win.

After scoring just one run in its previous 30 innings, Cleveland erupted for three in the fourth inning to claim a 3-1 lead.

Chicago starter Reynaldo Lopez surrendered three consecutive singles to load the bases before Carlos Santana scored on a fielder's choice to tie the game at 1. Martin raced down the first-base line to prevent the double play and Naquin followed two batters later with a single to left-center field to plate Carlos Gonzalez and Martin.

Indians left fielder Carlos Gonzalez (24) makes a diving catch in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Indians' lead held up until the seventh, when Cordell ripped a two-run single off starter Shane Bieber to score Charlie Tilson and Tim Anderson to forge a tie at 3.

Abreu deposited a 1-2 fastball from Bieber just inside the right-field foul pole to open the scoring with two outs in the third inning. Abreu's ninth homer of the season marked the eighth straight time that Cleveland surrendered the first run of a game.

--Field Level Media

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.