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| Jose Abreu |
After sweeping Kansas City, the Sox (29-30) took three out of four games from the Indians (29-30) to move into a second-place tie. In doing so, they overcame a couple of pitching matchups that didn't look too promising coming into the series.
Here's a look back at the weekend that was:
Thursday, May 30
White Sox 10, Indians 4: Cleveland right-hander Carlos Carrasco had made two previous starts against the Sox this season, and he won them both. In fact, he was unscored upon in 12 innings. So, it didn't look too good for the Sox with Carrasco starting against left-hander Manny Banuelos.
Surprise! The Sox cuffed Carrasco around for six runs on 10 hits over 6.1 innings, then blew the game open with four more runs off reliever Dan Otero.
Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso both homered, and Leury Garcia and Eloy Jimenez each had three-hit games. Jimenez's two-run double in the second inning started the Sox's scoring. Alonso's two-run homer in the third put them ahead to stay.
Banuelos (3-4) was good enough. He allowed three runs on five hits over 5.1 innings. For a guy with a 7.36 ERA, you take that.
Friday, May 31
White Sox 6, Indians 1: Once again, the starting pitching matchup didn't look favorable. The Indians were throwing their best healthy pitcher in Trevor Bauer, while the Sox were countering with the winless Dylan Covey.
Surprise! Covey (1-4) isn't winless anymore. He gave up a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor in the first inning, but no other runs over six innings pitched. He allowed eight hits, but managed to pitch around them.
Meanwhile, Cleveland committed four errors, causing Bauer to give up four unearned runs (and two additional earned runs) over seven innings.
Charlie Tilson paced the Sox offense with two hits, including a two-run double in the bottom of the third that put the South Siders ahead to stay.
Saturday, June 1
Indians 5, White Sox 2: There has to be a rotten apple in every bunch, right? Sox starter Ivan Nova (3-5) wasn't terrible, but a couple home runs by left-handed hitters hurt him. Carlos Santana broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a solo home run, and Leonys Martin added a two-run shot in the seventh for a 4-1 Indians lead.
The Sox could not overcome that deficit as they managed only four hits against a hodgepodge of six Cleveland pitchers. Reliever Oliver Perez (1-0) retired all five batters he faced in the fifth inning and at the start of the sixth inning to get the win for the Tribe. Brad Hand worked an easy ninth for his 16th save.
Jimenez had two hits for the Sox, including a double, but not much else was going on.
Sunday, June 2
White Sox 2, Indians 0: Lucas Giolito (8-1) did it again, improving to 6-0 with a 1.03 ERA over his past six starts. He went 7.1 innings, allowing only five hits and no walks. He struck out nine. Aaron Bummer got a double play ball to end the eighth inning, and Alex Colome worked around a leadoff double by Lindor in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the season.
It wasn't easy for Giolito, as he pitched with no margin for error thanks to a strong start by Cleveland rookie Zach Plesac (0-1), who tossed seven innings of one-run ball.
That one run was a 429-foot homer by Tim Anderson, his ninth of the season, in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Anderson's two-out RBI double, which scored Yolmer Sanchez.
The satisfying win should make for a pleasant off day Monday for the Sox, who just completed a busy stretch of 36 games in 37 days. They have a brief two-game series in Washington against the Nationals on Tuesday and Wednesday, before another off day on Thursday.
Weird schedule this season, huh?
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