White Sox 5, Cleveland 2: Bye, Ohio!
South Siders take the five-game series with win today.
What a great game all-around to end the week. The Chicago White Sox won 5-2 over Cleveland at Progressive Field, where it feels like they have been playing forever. It was a great game from Lucas Giolito, as well as the offense, as they bounced back from their shutout last night.
Triston McKenzie walked Tim Anderson to start off the game, followed by a one-out single by José Abreu to put runners on first and second. Yasmani Grandal stayed hot, as he singled to start the scoring off, 1-0.
Lucas Giolito allowed a leadoff double to Myles Straw, but was able to get out of the inning cleanly without any damage. McKenzie continued his wildness, hitting Gavin Sheets to start the top of the second, while Giolito recorded two strikeouts in the bottom of the inning.
Leury Legend continues to impress, as he ripped a double to left field to start the top of the third inning, followed by back-to-back walks to Abreu and Grandal to load the bases.
Eloy Jiménez was able to take advantage of the bases loaded and no outs situation, as he hit a two-run single to extend the lead to 3-0. Abreu, not exactly known for his wheels, made a great read for the second run on the play; give Pito a thank-you note tonight, Big Baby.
After a single by Moncada and fly out from Sheets, McKenzie saw his day come to an end, replaced by Nick Wittgren. McKenzie went just 2 ⅓ innings allowing five hits, three runs, and striking out three.
Giolito allowed a single in the bottom of the inning, but nothing more. He also struck out two in the bottom of the fourth. Some Sox started to tee off on righty Justin Garza in the top of the sixth inning, starting with an Andrew Vaughn single. With two outs and Vaughn then on second, Leury Legend singled, making it 4-0.
Giolito stayed in the game for one last inning in the sixth, surrendering a leadoff single to José Ramírez. Luckily, it was just a single and not a home run — plus, we don’t have to see Ramírez the rest of the season! After a two-out walk to Yu Chang, Owen Miller lined out to end the inning. That would be the end of Giolito’s day, as he went a phenomenal six innings with five hits, no runs, and six strikeouts.
We saw appearances from Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet in the seventh inning, as Kopech got into trouble after a double and back-to-back singles. Cleveland got a run on the board, as Kopech was yanked shortly after. Luckily after a replay review, Ramírez was confirmed to ground into a double play to end the inning with Crochet on the mound.
After back-to-back singles by Billy Hamilton and Anderson, Hamilton was able to use his superpower speed to steal home and extend the lead to 5-1. With both of them on base at the same time, the possibilities seem endless as to what could happen.
Craig Kimbrel took the eighth inning, as he allowed a solo home run to Harold Ramirez, but nothing more. Liam Hendriks got the save in the ninth, with a strikeout and two ground outs.
From clinching the division at the beginning of this series to ending it with a win, it sure was a wild five days. Ohio, see you next year. Now at 88-68, the team will go back to Comerica Park to play against the Detroit Tigers for just one day tomorrow, as they play their makeup game from last series at 12:10 p.m. CT. Dallas Keuchel will be on the mound against Matt Manning.
Enjoy the rest of this Sunday evening, and get ready for some more baseball tomorrow!