José Ramírez homers as the
Guardians beat the White Sox 9-5 to force a decisive Game 5 in ALDS
[October 09, 2026]
By JAY COHEN
CHICAGO (AP) — Facing elimination for the second consecutive day,
José Ramírez and the Cleveland Guardians responded once again.
“What this team is doing is only what we know how to do,” the
All-Star third baseman said.
Ramírez homered and drove in three runs, and Cleveland beat the
Chicago White Sox 9-5 on Thursday night to send their AL Division
Series to a winner-take-all Game 5.
Patrick Bailey also went deep and Game 2 starter Gavin Williams came
out of the bullpen to get the last three outs as the Guardians won
in Chicago for the second straight day after beginning their
postseason with two losses at home. Jo Adell hit a two-run single in
a six-run sixth inning for the AL Central champions.
“This team has answered all year,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We
talk about it — we punch back.”
Cleveland is looking to become the first club to come back from a
2-0 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series since the 2017 New York
Yankees accomplished the feat against, well, Cleveland. Teams with a
2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have gone on to win 83
of 93 times.
Game 5 is back in Cleveland on Saturday night, and the winner will
open the American League Championship Series at Tampa Bay next
Monday.
The road team has won all four games in the only one of the four
Division Series to go the distance this year.
“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.
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.
“Body felt good, stuff felt good, just didn’t execute,” Taylor said.
Miguel Vargas homered 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 off the bench.
All-Star closer Cade Smith worked a scoreless eighth for the
Guardians but 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 three outs after throwing
98 pitches 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.
“We’ve still got one more to win at home,” Bailey said. “Again, this
was an awesome atmosphere to play in. We can’t wait to get back to
Cleveland for Game 5.”
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.
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Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez celebrates after hitting a 2-run
home run during the fifth inning in Game 4 of baseball's American
League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Thursday, Oct.
8, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)
Jordan Hicks came in and Ramírez drove a 99.9 mph
fastball 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 José Ramírez being José Ramírez in the playoffs,” Vogt said.
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.
“It was really special,” Ramírez said through a translator. “It was
great energy out there, and very special to share this with the
guys.”
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.
“I feel like we’ve been impacting the baseball a lot better the last
two games,” Bailey said. “Obviously, the more you see a certain guy,
kind of not necessarily more comfortable, but you get to see (those)
kind of shapes more and more. Definitely helps.”
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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