ALDS Game 4: Guardians' Six-Run Sixth Stuns White Sox 9-5, Forces Winner-Take-All Game 5

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026 — For the second straight night, the Chicago White Sox had a chance to clinch the ALDS in front of a raucous Rate Field crowd — and for the second straight night, the Cleveland Guardians refused to go home. Down 2-0 in the fifth, Cleveland got back-to-back home runs from pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey and José Ramírez, survived Chicago’s instant answer in the bottom half, and then unloaded a six-run sixth — ten batters to the plate, eight straight reaching — to win 9-5 and send the series back to Cleveland for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday.

Here is how Thursday’s lone playoff game played out — and what’s next.

AL Division Series · Game 4Guardians 9, White Sox 5 — Ramírez and Bailey flip it, the sixth inning buries it

The White Sox drew first blood on the Guardians’ rookie left-hander Parker Messick, who lasted just 2 1/3 innings after walking home Munetaka Murakami with the bases loaded in the third. Shawn Armstrong entered and gave up a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to Sam Antonacci for a 2-0 Chicago lead. Erick Fedde was brilliant in relief of opener Hagen Smith, carrying that lead into the fifth — and then the game turned. Bailey, pinch-hitting for Austin Hedges, yanked a 376-foot solo homer down the right-field line, and Ramírez jumped on a 99-mph fastball from Jordan Hicks and crushed it 378 feet at 103.1 mph off the bat for a two-run shot and a 3-2 Cleveland lead.

Chicago answered immediately — Antonacci took a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Brenton Doyle’s sacrifice fly put the White Sox back in front 4-3 — but that was Chicago’s last lead of the night. In the sixth, Cleveland sent ten to the plate against Anthony Kay and Grant Taylor: Travis Bazzana’s RBI double tied it, Bailey’s go-ahead single put Cleveland ahead for good, Ramírez added an RBI infield single, Chase DeLauter singled home a run, and Jo Adell capped it with a two-run single for a 9-4 lead. Taylor, who had been Chicago’s bullpen ace through the first two games, didn’t retire a single batter. Erik Sabrowski got the win with a scoreless inning of relief, and when Miguel Vargas’ solo homer off Cade Smith gave Chicago life in the ninth, Stephen Vogt went to Game 5 starter-in-waiting Gavin Williams — who needed 18 pitches and a final flyout from Braden Montgomery with two on to close it in his first career relief appearance.

Ramírez finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Bailey went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and the Guardians became the first team since the 1997 World Series club to score nine or more in back-to-back playoff games. For Chicago, Vargas reached base four times with a homer, Antonacci drove in two, and the White Sox squandered their second straight chance to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since the 1906 World Series. The road team has now won all four games of this series.

One game for everything: Game 5 is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field in Cleveland, and the winner opens the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. Cleveland is chasing history — only seven teams have ever come back from 0-2 in a best-of-five, and none since the 2017 Yankees did it against the Guardians themselves. See all the postseason coverage on the MLB page.