Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez dove to his left and stuck his glove out, trying to snare a line drive off the bat of Chicago White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas.
The ball popped out of his glove and fell in front of him, creating a bit of a mad scramble for Ramírez. The White Sox were trailing by a pair of runs in the sixth inning, but had the bases loaded with two outs and the heart of their lineup ready to pounce.
Ramírez smothered the ball under him, picked it up, spun and rifled a strike to Nathaniel Lowe at first base for the final out of the inning, silencing the 40,590 fans at Rate Field. It was the closest the White Sox came to completing a rally and securing their first postseason-series-clinching win at home since the 1906 World Series.
Instead, the Guardians built on their lead in the final two innings, beating the White Sox 9-3 and forcing a Game 4 in the American League Division Series at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Rate Field.
“That out was tremendous,” Ramírez said in Spanish after the game. “As the saying goes, the game spoke there. After that play, I understood that things were going our way and we needed to keep competing and try to find a way to keep scoring.”
It was a dagger to the crowd that carried a buzz into the stadium before the first pitch. Nearly every person inside Rate Field donned dark clothing for the “Black Out” theme, booed as the Guardians staff and players were introduced, and roared as the White Sox were presented.
A pump-up video that finished with their playoff slogan, “Feel the momentum,” brought the stadium to a roar. The excitement carried through the first inning, when the White Sox took a 1-0 lead on a Kyle Teel RBI double.
“I’ve never seen that before, especially all black out, it was unbelievable,” Vargas said of the crowd. “This is what we expected coming back home, and hopefully the same way (Thursday).”
That first frame looked like it would be the perfect start for the White Sox, who had taken a first-inning lead in both games of the AL wild-card series against the Houston Astros. Sam Antonacci and Vargas reached to start the game, and Teel’s hit gave the White Sox a pair of runners in scoring position with one out.
But opener Daniel Espino struck out Chase Meidroth, and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt turned to left-hander Foster Griffin to face lefty Tristan Peters. Griffin struck out Peters looking, stymying the threat.
“Huge,” Griffin said. “All I wanted to do in the first was get the boys back to the dugout, limit the damage there. Felt pretty good about the match-up.
“Get us back to the dugout, I think, kind of shut the momentum down from their side for a little bit.”
It was the sentiment Vogt wanted from his team. Dropping two games at home meant the Guardians would have to find a way to win in a “great atmosphere” on the road. So Vogt wanted them to use that energy to their advantage.
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“I always ask the players, what do you like better: Do you like to make 50,000 people go crazy, or do you like to shut 50,000 people up?” he said before the game. “They’re both very different feelings, but they’re equally as fun. So it’s going to be a great environment. I’m looking forward to it.”
Griffin’s escape work might not have shut the crowd up, but it sure shushed it.
The real silencing of the crowd came two innings later, when Jo Adell delivered a two-out, bases-loaded triple to give the Guardians a 4-1 lead.
“Once we got the momentum going on our side, it was tough to stop it,” Griffin said.
The White Sox tried, but each time they chipped away, the Guardians hit back.
Meidroth and Peters hit back-to-back doubles to open the fourth inning, cutting the deficit to two runs, but Peters was stranded at second and the Guardians made it a three-run lead the next half inning when Ramírez scored on a fielder’s choice.
Vargas’ inning-ending groundout with the bases loaded in the sixth was followed by two runs in each of the eighth and ninth innings by the Guardians. Cleveland’s pitching retired the final 10 White Sox hitters, beginning with Vargas’ groundout. The White Sox finished 2-for-11 (.182) with runners in scoring position and stranded eight base runners. They were 11-for-32 (.344) with runners in scoring position in their first four games of the playoffs.
“Really good play there to knock the ball down,” White Sox manager Will Venable said of Ramírez’s play. “Didn’t trickle far enough for us to be able to get (Vargas) safe at first base. But, yeah, kind of had him on the ropes there. It was a really big opportunity, nice swing by (Vargas), and a great play by Ramírez.”
The White Sox will try and close out the series on Thursday but face another tough task with Guardians ace Parker Messick toeing the rubber. They’ll hope they can use the crowd as a neutralizer and not squander as many opportunities to close the door.
“I think we did a really good job, put a lot of men in scoring position,” Vargas said. “I think we were one hit away from turning it our way. We weren’t able to, but we got to do the same job tomorrow.”
Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.