Guardians’ Six-Run Sixth Forces ALDS Game 5 Against White Sox

The Guardians walked into Rate Field with their season on the line and walked out with a winner-take-all game waiting at home. Cleveland’s 9-5 Game 4 victory over the White Sox erased a 2-0 hole in the American League Division Series, with a six-run sixth inning turning a loud Chicago night into a remarkably quiet one.

The setting had been built for the White Sox. Their fans had waited five years to see postseason baseball again, and Cleveland arrived in Chicago knowing the ballpark would be ready to make every inning uncomfortable. The Guardians did not shy from that assignment.

Manager Stephen Vogt has framed the road atmosphere as one of the game’s better tests. He said he asks players whether they would rather send 50,000 people into celebration or silence them all. The emotions, he said, are different, but each can be just as satisfying.

In the sixth, the Guardians found the second answer. Their six-run rally took the energy out of Rate Field and gave Cleveland the road win it needed to bring the series back to Progressive Field.

Game 5 returns to Cleveland

Saturday’s Game 5 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local time, with TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max carrying the game. The winner will advance to face the Rays in the American League Championship Series.

Cleveland’s path has changed quickly. Three days earlier, the Guardians were down two games and facing the narrowest of margins. Now the series is even, although history offers no automatic edge to the club hosting the finale.

So the Guardians have earned the chance they wanted: one game at Progressive Field, one more opportunity to turn a season that looked close to finished into a trip to the ALCS.