CHICAGO — The road to the American League Championship Series for the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians will include one more game at Progressive Field.

The Sox fell short in their attempt to win the AL Division Series for the second straight night, losing 9-5 to the Guardians in Game 4 on Thursday in front of a sellout crowd of 39,920 at Rate Field.

The Guardians exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to even the series 2-2.

They forced a winner-take-all Game 5 at 7 p.m. Saturday at Progressive Field, with a trip to the ALCS to face the Tampa Bay Rays on the line.

The roller-coaster ride of emotions started in the first inning when Erick Fedde came out of the bullpen to help the Sox escape trouble. Entering with the bases loaded and two outs following opener Hagen Smith, Fedde struck out Angel Martínez swinging with a sweeper.

The crowd screamed “Fedde! Fedde!” as the team made its way to the dugout.

The Sox came through in a bases-loaded situation in the third.

Colson Montgomery reached on an infield single. Chase Meidroth followed with a double. With one out, Miguel Vargas walked. That loaded the bases for Munetaka Murakami, who worked a full count before drawing ball four against Guardians starter Parker Messick. Montgomery scored on the walk, putting the Sox ahead 1-0.

Meidroth scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by pinch hitter Sam Antonacci against Guardians reliever Shawn Armstrong, making it 2-0.

Fedde had a crucial shutdown inning in the fourth. He screamed after watching Murakami and Montgomery execute a 3-6-3 double play. And after recording the final out of the inning covering first and receiving a toss from Murakami on a grounder by Travis Bazzana, Fedde fired the ball into the stands.

Momentum swung the Guardians’ way in the fifth. Pinch hitter Patrick Bailey led off the inning lining a home run over the right-field wall.

With one out, Steven Kwan singled. That was the last batter for Fedde, who received a huge ovation as he exited.

José Ramírez greeted reliever Jordan Hicks with a two-run home run to right field, giving the Guardians a 3-2 lead. Ramírez jumped in the air as he made his way to first base.

The Sox bounced back quickly in the bottom of the fifth. Antonacci was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing home Meidroth to tie the score. Brenton Doyle then put the Sox back ahead with a sacrifice fly to right field. Vargas scored, giving the Sox a 4-3 lead.

And then came the backbreaking six-run sixth.

Bazzana brought in the tying run with a double that was just out of the reach of diving right fielder Braden Montgomery. Grant Taylor replaced Anthony Kay to face Bailey, who knocked in Bazzana with a single.

Two walks followed, loading the bases for Ramírez. He hit a grounder with the infield in that the second baseman Meidroth slowed down but couldn’t stop. A run scored on the infield hit, extending the Guardians’ lead to 6-4.

Chase DeLauter drove in a run with a single, and Jo Adell knocked in two more with a single of his own to give the Guardians a 9-4 lead.

Vargas hit a solo home run in the ninth, but the Sox had fallen too far behind and dropped their second straight at home.

The Sox were unable to get it done at Rate Field. Now they’ll need to extend their postseason road success — 4-0 — to extend their season.

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