Cleveland Indians Beat the Chicago White Sox, Win Series

The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox for the third straight time, this time by a score of 4-3. The Tribe got another stellar performance by Corey Kluber and moved to 25-20 on the season. The White Sox fall to 27-21 and are now just 0.5 games ahead of the Indians in the division.

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Kluber pitched outstanding for the Tribe, going 7.1 innings allowing just two runs (only one earned) on seven hits, one walks, and striking out nine. The only run he allowed while in the game was a hand-wrapped gift by the Indians defense. After walking White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier, Yan Gomes airmailed a throw to second as Frazier was stealing the bag. The errant throw allowed Frazier to go to third and after center fielder Rajai Davis over ran the ball, it allowed Frazier to come all the way around and score the White Sox first run of the game. The errors were two of the three the Tribe defense committed on the afternoon, but thankfully for them Kluber brought his A-game and picked the defense up.

The only other run Kluber allowed came in the 8th inning. After Kluber allowed a single to Jimmy Rollins and struck out Frazier, Bryan Shaw came on in relief and preceeded to give up a two-run home run to Melky Cabrera cutting the lead to 4-3 Indians. One of the two runs was charged to Kluber, his only earned run allowed on the afternoon. Shaw was able to work around a single later in the inning to keep the lead intact. Closer Cody Allen, working for the third day in a row, came on and worked a perfect 9th inning, striking out two before getting Adam Eaton to ground out to end the game earning his 11th save of the year. With the win, Corey Kluber moved to 4-5 on the season.

For the second day in a row the Indians were facing a starting pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA and for the second straight game that starter left with an ERA over 2.00. The Indians were able to get two runs in the 2nd inning off White Sox starter Jose Quintana on a two-out RBI triple off the bat of  Lonnie Chisenhall, who was getting a rare start versus a left-handed pitcher.  Chisenhall’s hit got by right fielder Adam Eaton, who has been the best defensive outfielder this year, and went all the way to the wall, allowing both Juan Uribe and Yan Gomes to score in addition to Chisenhall making it to third.

The Indians added a third run off Quintana in the top of the 3rd on a sacrifice fly by Uribe that scored Jose Ramirez, who started at shortstop today giving Francisco Lindor his first game off this season.  The Tribe’s fourth and final run came in the top of the 8th on and RBI triple by Yan Gomes that scored Mike Napoli. Gomes was able to get the ball by a diving Frazier and third and hustled into third for his first triple of the year, and also making ammends for his throwing error earlier that gifted the White Sox their first run of the game. The insurance run turned out to be the difference in the game.

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The Indians close out their nine-game road trip with a 6-3 record. They will have tomorrow off before opening a 10-game homestand Friday against the Baltimore Orioles. They now have the fewest losses of any American League Central team and depending on the outcome of the White Sox-Royals game tomorrow night could find themselves in tied first place when the homestand begins.