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Guards avoid sweep; Brewers, Dodgers, Rays advance

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CHICAGO (AP) -- Jo Adell and José Ramírez powered Cleveland with a pair of two-out triples, and the Guardians avoided an AL Division Series sweep by cooling off the Chicago White Sox with a 9-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday.

Adell’s three-run triple gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Ramírez’s three-bagger drove in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey for a 7-3 advantage in the eighth.

The Guardians hit two triples in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history. They became the first major league team to accomplish the feat since the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Adell, Ramírez, Bailey and Brayan Rocchio each had two of the team’s 11 hits -- a complete turnaround for the AL Central champions after they managed just three runs and seven hits in the first two games of the series combined.

Game 4 is Thursday night in Chicago, with the White Sox leading 2-1 in the best-of-five matchup. Once again, they’ll try to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since the 1906 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago jumped in front on Teel’s RBI double off Daniel Espino with one out in the first. But then Espino fanned Chase Meidroth before Foster Griffin struck out Tristan Peters looking, stranding runners on second and third.

Griffin set a franchise record for a reliever with seven strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. The left-hander allowed one run and two hits in his first appearance since Sept. 23.

“Once we got the momentum going on our side, it was tough to stop it,” said Griffin, who came over in a trade with Washington in August.

Cleveland rallied in the third against Bryan Hudson, who entered after Sean Newcomb pitched two scoreless innings.

Bazzana walked and scored on Steven Kwan’s one-out single to left. Facing Smith with two down and the bases loaded, Adell grounded a high fastball down the first-base line for a 4-1 lead.

Adell, acquired in an August trade with the Los Angeles Angels, also hit an RBI triple during Cleveland’s 4-3 loss in Game 2. He hit one triple during the regular season in each of the last two years.

Playing in his 48th postseason game -- all with Cleveland -- Ramírez manufactured an insurance run for the Guardians in the fifth. He doubled, stole third and scored on Chase DeLauter’s grounder to second, beating Teel’s tag with a headfirst slide.

Ramírez’s savvy baserunning gave the Guardians a 5-2 lead. The seven-time All-Star went 0 for 6 with two walks in the first two games of the series.

DODGERS 4, BRAVES 1

ATLANTA (AP) -- Andy Pages drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to give Los Angeles the lead, and the Dodgers beat Atlanta to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers won back-to-back games in Atlanta to take the best-of-five matchup 3-1 and advance to the National League Championship Series as they seek to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series.

Pages lined a 3-2 pitch from Robert Suarez up the middle to drive in Teoscar Hernández, who singled off starter Tyler Mahle, and pinch-runner Tommy Edman for a 3-1 lead. Didier Fuentes walked pinch-hitter Josue De Paula and Kyle Tucker to load the bases. Edman ran for De Paula.

Max Muncy’s solo shot off Raisel Iglesias in the ninth padded the lead and gave the slugger 19 postseason homers with the Dodgers, extending his franchise record.

RAYS 4, YANKEES 3

NEW YORK (AP) -- Victor Mesa Jr. hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning, and Tampa Bay beat New York with the help of a fan interference call for a three-game sweep of their AL Division Series.

Ryan Vilade also homered for the Rays, who reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020 and host the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians in the opener on Monday.

After Mesa’s homer gave the Rays a 4-2 lead, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a two-run shot against Griffin Jax with two outs in the bottom half as a fan reached over the left-field wall and caught the ball over the glove of a leaping Mesa.

A video review determined the ball would not have cleared the fence but would not have been caught by Mesa. Volpe was awarded an RBI double and George Lombard Jr. was allowed to score from first base. Jax recovered to strike out Spencer Jones.

Baseball’s adaptation of video technology was key to the inning.

BREWERS 3, PADRES 1

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Garrett Mitchell tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the fifth inning before making a pivotal catch on Manny Machado’s drive to the wall in the eighth, and Milwaukee advanced to the National League Championship Series for the second straight season with a victory over San Diego, winning their best-of-five Division Series in four games.

Mitchell also drove in Sal Frelick with Milwaukee’s first run as the Brewers snapped their 12-game postseason road losing streak since 2018 and reached the team’s fifth League Championship Series.

Machado nearly tied Game 4 with a 406-foot drive off reliever Abner Uribe, but Mitchell coolly tracked it down and reached just above the short wall in right-center to keep it in the yard.

Second baseman Brice Turang then ended the eighth with an acrobatic catch of Ty France’s tailing popup in foul ground.

After fending off the surging Padres in four tight games decided by a combined five runs, the 103-win Brewers will get an NLCS rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who eliminated Atlanta on Wednesday.

Ian Seymour pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win, Kevin Kelly struck out pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton to strand a runner in the eighth and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth for his third save of the series.

Starting at /week.