Adell and Ramírez triples keep Guardians alive with 9-3 Game 3 win

Jo Adell's three-run triple gave Cleveland the lead, José Ramírez widened it with a two-run triple in the eighth, and the Guardians avoided elimination with a 9-3 win over the White Sox on Wednesday at Rate Field. Chicago still leads the American League Division Series two games to one; Game 4 is Thursday.

Cleveland entered the afternoon after scoring three runs across the first two games. It finished Game 3 with 11 hits, including two apiece from Adell, Ramírez, Patrick Bailey and Brayan Rocchio. The Guardians also drew nine walks, repeatedly putting Chicago's pitchers under pressure even without a home run.

The change came in the third. Travis Bazzana walked and scored on Steven Kwan's single to tie the game 1-1. With two outs and the bases loaded, Adell drove a ball down the right-field line against Hagen Smith. Kwan, Ramírez and Chase DeLauter scored, putting Cleveland ahead 4-1.

Ramírez supplied a separate run in the fifth. He doubled, stole third and scored on DeLauter's grounder to second, beating the throw home. That gave the Guardians a 5-2 lead after Tristan Peters had doubled in a White Sox run in the fourth.

Chicago made its strongest push in the sixth. A walk, a single and two hit batters brought a run home and left the bases loaded with Miguel Vargas up. Vargas hit a liner toward third, where Ramírez caught it to end the inning. A rally that could have overturned the game instead left Cleveland ahead 5-3.

In the eighth, Ramírez tripled home Bazzana and Bailey to stretch the lead to four runs. Angel Genao's RBI double and Rocchio's RBI single added two more in the ninth. Ramírez finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and a stolen base.

The Guardians' pitching staff recorded 19 strikeouts. Foster Griffin had seven in 2⅔ innings after Daniel Espino's short start; Espino recorded two outs, allowed a run and struck out two. Tim Herrin struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh, and Cade Smith finished with five strikeouts across two scoreless innings. Cleveland allowed six hits altogether.

Kyle Teel's first-inning double had put Chicago in front, but that early lead lasted only until the third. The White Sox scored once more in the fourth and sixth, then went scoreless over the final three innings. Their chance to clinch the series at home carries into Thursday.

MLB's Tim Stebbins reported that Ramírez is still managing the effects of June surgery on his left hamate and is not expected to be fully recovered physically until 2027. Wednesday's performance showed the specific ways he could still influence this game: an extra-base hit and steal to create a run, a catch with the bases loaded, and the late triple that gave Cleveland breathing room. The Guardians remain one loss from elimination, with their series extended by those plays.