CLEVELAND _ Indians manager Terry Francona and hitting coach Victor Rodriguez kept repeating a similar line, that they felt Jose Ramirez would start hitting at his own level soon.
For one swing, Ramirez proved their premonitions correct, belting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Indians to a 5-3 win against the Chicago White Sox Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
It marked the Indians' third walk-off hit and second via a home run. It was also a needed win after a brutal three-game stretch that saw the Indians outscored 21-1.
The Indians (19-16) and White Sox (16-19) entered the bottom of the ninth tied 3-3. With one out, Francisco Lindor singled off reliever Jace Fry before Jason Kipnis struck out. Down to their last out before needing extra innings, the White Sox turned to Kelvin Herrera.
In a hitter's 3-1 count, Herrera offered a fastball high in the zone that Ramirez launched to the seats beyond right-center field, sending the Indians home as winners. It was his third home run of the season.
After being held to just one run in their previous three games in what as total offensive blackout, the Indians finally broke through a bit in the fourth inning Wednesday night against White Sox starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez.
Trailing 1-0, Carlos Santana began the rally with a single to right and was followed by Carlos Gonzalez, who slashed a single to left field to put runners on the corners. Jake Bauers then singled to right to load the bases with one out.
Leonys Martin nearly ended the inning without anything to show for it, grounding a ball to second baseman Yolmer Sanchez, but he beat the throw from shortstop Tim Anderson to avoid the double play and score a run. After Kevin Plawecki was hit by a pitch to again load the bases, Tyler Naquin roped a single to left-center field to score both Gonzalez and Martin and give the Indians a 3-1 lead.
The White Sox answered in the top of the seventh inning, tying it up and ending Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber's night. Charlie Tilson and Anderson opened the inning with singles and were advanced a base by a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Cordell made it count by hitting a slider to left-center, scoring both runs and deadlocking it at 3-3.
Bieber finished with three earned runs on eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Some highlight-reel plays in the top of the eighth allowed the Indians to keep it tied. With Nick Wittgren on the mound, former Indians first baseman Yonder Alonso drilled a ball that Kipnis fielded on a sharp one-hop with a dive. Later, Gonzalez ended the inning with a diving catch in left field to rob Tilson of a hit. It was Gonzalez's second diving play of the night, as he also saved at least one run with a diving grab in the first inning to take away a hit off the bat of Alonso. And in the ninth, Ramirez added a leaping grab to potentially rob Cordell of a double.
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