José Ramírez homers, from his shins, to complete Guardians' historic ALDS comeback over White Sox

The Cleveland Guardians had to dig deep after falling behind 0-2 against the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS. José Ramírez took that literally in the Guardians' biggest moment of the season.With a two-run homer from his shins, the Guardians' longtime leader lifted his team to a 2-0 win in a winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday in Cleveland. They will face the Tampa Bay Rays in their second ALCS in three years, with Game 1 scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. ET.The Guardians are the first team to erase a two-game division series lead since the 2017 New York Yankees, who did it at the expense of the Guardians. That means Saturday marked the end of a charmed season for the White Sox — you could even say blessed — but few expected it to end like this.On Saturday, both teams were hitless entering the fourth inning, but Steven Kwan broke that up with a leadoff single off White Sox starter Sean Burke. Five pitches later, Ramírez broke the scoreless tie with a two-run home run at a raucous Progressive Field.Ramírez didn't just hit a homer, though. He hit a homer on a pitch that, objectively, no hitting coach would ever want a hitter to swing at, a 78-mph curveball that was destined for dirt before running into wood.JOSÉ RAMÍREZ!GUARDIANS TAKE THE FIRST LEAD OF GAME 5! pic.twitter.com/Z0zoqm513R— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2026 Per MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Ramírez made contact with the ball 0.74 feet — or about nine inches — off the ground. That is the lowest pitch hit for a homer in a postseason game since MLB started tracking this stuff in 2008.It was a ridiculous pitch to swing at, but Ramírez has built a career on making hard contact with balls out of the zone. This time, he did it to save the Guardians' season — two days after hitting a go-ahead homer in Game 4. Perpetually underrated throughout his career, Ramírez already has a strong résumé for a plaque in Cooperstown and a statue in Cleveland. He made it even stronger on Saturday.The game wasn't a one-man effort, though. The other hero of the game was Cleveland starting pitcher Gavin Williams, who was historically dominant through the game's first five innings.His start wound up being a showcase of how quickly things can turn in the postseason, though. When Williams got the second out of the sixth inning, he hadn't allowed a hit and was up to 12 strikeouts. He was on pace for a start that would leave a mark on baseball history.All 12 of Gavin Williams' Game 5 strikeouts 😤 pic.twitter.com/m338iiKfbc— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2026 Then White Sox catcher Kyle Teel recorded his team's first hit, which put the tying run on base, with Colson Montgomery having been hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Then Williams walked Miguel Vargas to put the go-ahead run on base. That was it for the righty, who was pulled for left-hander Erik Sabrowski to face Chicago slugger Munetaka Murakami.In the other biggest at-bat of the night, Sabrowski struck out Murakami to leave the bases loaded and preserve Williams' brilliance. Williams' 12 strikeouts tied the Cleveland postseason record, held by Charles Nagy from his gem in the 1996 ALDS.The Cleveland bullpen had no further trouble, with Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith combining to get the final nine outs of the game.The Guardians erase an 0-2 series deficit and advance to the ALCS! #CLINCHED(MLB x @BudweiserUSA) pic.twitter.com/g0zCsmeMPB— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2026 It's a brutal end to Chicago's season. In a winner-take-all game, the Sox got shut down while striking out 21 times in 27 outs, with only three hits (all singles). They were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position. Those 21 strikeouts broke a nine-inning postseason record previously held by … their 19 strikeouts in Game 3.The White Sox had all the momentum after sweeping the Houston Astros in the wild-card round and taking that 2-0 lead over Cleveland, and they were on the verge of their first ALCS appearance since their title run in 2005. Now it's over. It was a magical season, given where the Sox started, coming off a string of three consecutive 100-loss seasons after a nearly comatose decade, but this is still going to sting.