Indians clinch playoff berth with walk-off win over White Sox

[September 23, 2020]  Jose Ramirez belted a three-run homer in the 10th inning as the host Cleveland Indians clinched a postseason berth in dramatic fashion with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.

Chicago appeared poised to prevent Cleveland from punching its ticket to the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons after scoring twice in the top of the 10th inning. Adam Engel ripped an RBI triple off Phil Maton (3-3) before coming around to score on Nick Madrigal's RBI single to stake the White Sox to a 3-1 lead.

Undaunted, Francisco Lindor halved the deficit in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI double off the top of the wall in center field.

Cesar Hernandez earned a walk off Matt Foster (5-1) to set the stage for Ramirez, who greeted Jose Ruiz by depositing his 2-2 fastball over the wall in right field for his team-leading 17th homer and sixth in as many games.

Hernandez belted a solo homer in the first inning for the Indians (31-24), who have won five of their last six contests overall and six of eight meetings with Chicago this season.

Jose Abreu launched a solo homer with two outs in the sixth inning for the White Sox (34-21), who have lost three in a row. Chicago entered the day with a 1 1/2-game lead over second-place Minnesota in the American League Central.

Cleveland jumped out to an early lead as Hernandez deposited an 0-2 slider from Reynaldo Lopez over the wall in right-center field for his third homer of the season and first since he went deep on consecutive days on Aug. 23-24. Hernandez's homer also marked the second straight game that the Indians went deep in the first inning.

White Sox starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez (40) delivers in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago attempted to answer by loading the bases in the fifth, however Adam Plutko induced Madrigal to ground into an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.

The White Sox forged a tie with two outs in the sixth inning. Abreu sent an elevated 3-2 slider from Plutko over the wall in right field for his team-leading 19th homer and fourth in his last seven games.

--Field Level Media

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