José Ramírez gave Cleveland another October jolt in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, turning on a Jordan Hicks fastball in the fifth inning for the two-run homer that put the Guardians ahead 3-2 against the White Sox.
The 34-year-old’s drive to right field landed in Cleveland’s bullpen and quieted Rate Field in a hurry. Guardians pitchers erupted beyond the fence, a reaction that matched the noise surely coming from Northeast Ohio.
Quick facts
- Ramírez hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth inning of Game 4.
- The homer came off White Sox reliever Jordan Hicks and gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead.
- Hicks’ pitch was a 99.9 mph four-seam fastball, the hardest pitch Ramírez has homered against in his career.
- Ramírez reached 43 postseason hits, tying Jim Thome for third in Guardians franchise history.
Ramírez’s latest swing followed his major Game 3 performance, and it arrived at a moment when Cleveland needs every ounce of its star’s production to extend the series to a deciding Game 5.
There had been questions about whether Ramírez could carry his regular-season struggles into October. He has not looked like his usual offensive self for much of the season after undergoing left hamate surgery in June, but the last two games have offered a different picture.
The blast also made a small piece of pitch-tracking history. Since tracking began in 2008, it matched the fastest pitch hit for a postseason homer by a Cleveland player. Brayan Rocchio previously reached that mark when he homered off Detroit’s Troy Melton in Game 2 of last season’s American League Wild Card Series.
For Ramírez, the hit total carries its own franchise weight. His 43 playoff hits now place him alongside Thome, with only two Cleveland players ahead of them on the club’s postseason list.
One swing did not settle the series, but it gave the Guardians the kind of fifth-inning answer that can change a clubhouse. Ramírez has found his timing when Cleveland’s season is on the line.
