Guardians avoid sweep as Ramirez leads them past White Sox in ALDS Game 3

The Cleveland superstar went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, triple, walk, two RBI, two runs, and two clutch plays in the field that prevented the White Sox from putting up crucial runs. Cleveland now avoids the sweep as the series heads to Game 4. 

White Sox pitchers combined for an alarming 11 hits, 10 walks, and nine earned runs, while only striking out six. Meanwhile, Cleveland's pitching staff put up 19 strikeouts and only three walks and six hits.

Game recap and highlights 

After a 1-2-3 top half of the first inning, the White Sox struck first in the bottom half after Kyle Teel drilled an RBI single to bring home Sam Antonacci from second. 

Entering this game, teams that scored first this Postseason went on to win 16 of the 20 games.

A half inning later, White Sox star third baseman Miguel Vargas made a fantastic double play before starting pitcher Sean Newcomb struck out Jose Martinez to end the inning.

But it was just the first of a handful of amazing plays from the game following a scoreless second inning from both sides.

Bryan Hudson came in for Newcomb to start the third inning, and that's when it began to unravel for the White Sox.

Chicago eventually used up all of their challenges after Teel called for one in the top of the third inning. The original ruling of a ball was confirmed, and Teel made sure to voice out his frustration with the call. 

And from there on, the Guardians' bats woke up.

After Travis Bazzana walked during that at-bat, Hudson forced Patrick Bailey into a lineout. But with a Brayan Rocchio single, putting him and Bazzana on second and first with one out, Steven Kwan pulled through when the opportunity presented itself. 

Kwan lined one into left, bringing in Bazzana from second and advancing Rocchio to second. 

Hudson was replaced by Hagen Smith, who walked Ramirez, leaving the bases loaded with one out. He forced Chase DeLauter to hit a grounder to Munetaka Murakami, who made a heads-up throw to get the force out at home. Then stepped up Jo Addell. 

The veteran smacked one down the right field line for a bases-clearing triple as the Guardians took a commanding 4-1 lead before Smith got out of the inning. 

Chicago did nothing in the bottom of the third, nor did Cleveland during the top of the fourth. But the White Sox tried to fight back. 

After Chase Meidroth doubled to start the bottom of the fifth, Tristan Peters brought him home with an RBI double to cut the lead in half, 4-2. 

Before he was taken out, Guardians reliever Foster Griffin struck out Braden Montgomery for his seventh of the game and the first out of the inning. It marked the most ever in a single Postseason game in Cleveland history.

He was only in for 2.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits while not walking a single batter. Shawn Armstrong eventually got the Guardians out of the inning.

Cleveland added to their lead in the top of the fifth thanks to heads-up baseball by Ramirez. After leading the inning off with a double, then stealing third, DeLauter hit another infield grounder that scored Ramirez from third to put the Guardians up 5-2. 

Despite having runners on second and third with one out, the White Sox left the bottom of the fifth inning scoreless after they got caught up on a fantastic double play similar to the one Vargas turned earlier in the game. 

But Cleveland would go scoreless in the next top half of the inning. 

The bottom of the sixth proved to have all kinds of exciting moments. 

With two outs, Montgomery got on with a walk before Randal Grichuk singled to put them on first and second. Colson Montgomery loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch as every single White Sox fan got to their feet, hoping for a rally. 

Antonocci was also hit by a pitch, bringing in Montgomery from third to make it 5-3, loading the bases once more. 

But Ramirez put the team on his back after snagging a liner from Vargas at third base to end the inning, preventing two more runs from scoring. 

After both teams put up goose eggs in the seventh inning, it was, you guessed it, Ramirez who kept things rolling for the Guardians in the top of the eighth.

Following Rocchio's sac-bunt to move Bazzana to third and Bailey to second, Ramirez joined Adell with a two-run triple of his own to give the Guardians a 7-3 lead that the White Sox couldn't come back from. 

Cleveland proceeded to tack on extra insurance. With no outs in the top of the ninth inning and bases loaded, an Angel Ganao double and Rocchio single put the Guardians up 9-3 before the White Sox were blanketed in the bottom half to end the game.

Game 4 between the Guardians and White Sox will take place on Thursday, October 8th, in Chicago.