Guardians Spoil the Party: Cleveland Beats White Sox 9-3 in ALDS Game 3 to Force Game 4

CHICAGO — The party was supposed to be on Wednesday. A frenzied crowd of 40,590 packed Rate Field for the franchise’s first home playoff game since 2021, the White Sox up 2-0 and one win from their first home postseason series clinch since the 1906 World Series. Instead, the Cleveland Guardians turned the evening into a reminder of who the AL Central champions are, beating Chicago 9-3 behind a pair of two-out triples and 19 strikeouts to force a Game 4.

The triples were the story of the night — and of the franchise record book. Jo Adell’s bases-clearing three-run triple in the third inning broke the game open, giving Cleveland a 4-1 lead it never relinquished. José Ramírez’s two-run triple in the eighth, driving in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey, put the game away at 7-3. It was the first time in franchise history the Guardians recorded two triples in a postseason game, and the first time any major league team had done it since the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.

For a club that managed just three runs and seven hits across the first two games of the series combined, the turnaround was total. Adell, Ramírez, Bailey and Brayan Rocchio each collected two of Cleveland’s 11 hits, and the Guardians kept piling on — Angel Genao and Rocchio drove in runs in the ninth for good measure. “We continued to pile on,” manager Stephen Vogt said afterward. “I think that’s been the difference of the first couple games to today.”

And it was Ramírez, in every phase, who delivered the night the Guardians needed from their franchise player. The seven-time All-Star came into Game 3 hitless in the series — 0-for-6 with two walks in the first two games — and in the middle of a season that tested him. A broken bone in his left hand, suffered on a swing against Detroit on June 13, cost him five weeks and required surgery; he returned July 22 against Minnesota but hit just .229 with two homers and 20 RBIs in 53 games after the operation. None of that was visible on Wednesday.

The first sign came in the first inning, when Ramírez lined a 107.9-mph rocket that diving left fielder Randal Grichuk somehow caught. He walked and scored on Adell’s triple in the third, then got his first hit of the series in the fifth — a 106.5-mph double off White Sox rookie Noah Schultz — stole second and crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice. But his biggest play of the night came with his glove. With the bases loaded and a run already in during the sixth, Chicago’s Miguel Vargas smashed a two-out liner on a 3-2 pitch, and Ramírez dove to his left at third to snare it, preserving a 5-3 lead. “After that play, it was, OK, this is our game to win, and that’s what we were able to do,” Ramírez said through a translator. His manager was simpler: “He can hurt you with the bat, the legs and the glove. He showed all that today.”

Cleveland’s opener, Daniel Espino, gave up a first-inning run on Kyle Teel’s RBI double, then fanned Chase Meidroth before Foster Griffin entered and struck out Tristan Peters looking to strand runners on second and third. Griffin, the 31-year-old left-hander, went on to set a franchise record for a reliever with seven strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run and two hits. Tim Herrin struck out the side in a perfect seventh, and closer Cade Smith fanned five across the final two innings. Seven Cleveland pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts.

Chicago’s half of the box score told the other story. The White Sox struck out 19 times and went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, wasting the one threat they built. After opener Sean Newcomb retired the side on 10 pitches in the first and faced the minimum in the second, Bryan Hudson took over in the third and the Guardians went to work: Bazzana walked and scored on Steven Kwan’s single, and with two outs and the bases loaded, Adell grounded a high fastball from lefty Hagen Smith down the first-base line to clear them. The bullpen that had carried Chicago through the first two games faltered, and Munetaka Murakami, Tristan Peters and Colson Montgomery each struck out three times.

The White Sox are still in the stronger position, and their clubhouse knew it. “Today has nothing to do with tomorrow. Nothing,” Teel said. “We come ready to go like we always do tomorrow.” The season they’ve authored — the first four wins of a surprising postseason run after going 60-102 last year — doesn’t end with one bad night. But the series is suddenly a contest again, and Thursday’s pitching matchup favors no one’s nerves.

Game 4 is set for 8 PM ET Thursday at Rate Field. Parker Messick starts for Cleveland on normal rest, looking to rebound from a Game 1 outing in which he allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings, with a chance to force a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Cleveland on Saturday. Chicago counters with Hagen Smith as the opener — the 23-year-old threw 21 pitches in relief in Game 3 and has allowed just one run over 6 1/3 innings this postseason — before handing it to Grant Taylor with the series on the line. The winner advances to face the Rays in the ALCS. Read the Game 2 breakdown, the Game 3s preview, and all of Previously’s MLB coverage.