Jeremy Sowers and Javier Vasquez went toe-to-toe for awhile, with Sowers surrendering the lone hit through four. In the fifth, the White Sox got to him. In the end Sowers ended up with the loss, and Vasquez the win, the White Sox leaving Cleveland 4-2 victors.
Sowers, the victim of no run support pretty much every time he takes the hill, gave up a home run to Nick Swisher (23) to lead off the fifth, then allowed a single to Josh Fields.
Fields ended up scoring later in the inning after being moved over to second on catcher Toby Hall’s ground out, and a two out double by Orlando Cabrera. The White Sox, trying to avoid a sweep of the series at the hands of the Indians, were up 2-0.
They’d add two more in the top of the sixth, again via the long ball. Alexei Ramirez added to Sowers’ woes with a two run home run (16) knocking in Jermaine Dye who’d reached base on a single two batters earlier.
The Indians would answer with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, narrowing the score to 4-2. Asdrubal Cabrera opened the inning with a single, and Grady Sizemore immediately doubled him over to third.
They remained stuck on their respective bases while David Dellucci grounded out, and Ben Francisco whiffed for outs number one and two. Jhonny Peralta delivered a two out double to right field, scoring both Cabrera and Sizemore. That upped his RBI total to 77 on the year.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Juan Rincon, who’d relieved Sowers in with one out in the sixth, went 2.2 innings - holding Cleveland close through 7.2 innings. After giving up his first hit of the night, a two-out single off the bat of Paul Konerko, Rafael Betancourt came on in relief. The White Sox sent in Jerry Owens as a pinch runner for Konerko, but he didn’t get in much running as Betancourt struck out Ramirez to end the inning.
Chicago’s Octavio Dotel relieved in the seventh, walking Sal Fasano after registering an out to Ryan Garko. Jamey Carroll came on as a pinch runner for Fasano, a guy that would never be mistaken for a base stealer, and moved to second when Cabrera bunt-singled himself to first. This happened after a pinch hitting Victory Martinez foul out.
With two gone, Franklin Gutierrez pinch hit for Dellucci and hit a fly-out to center, wiping out a golden opportunity with men on.
The Indians put runners on the base paths again in the eighth. Francisco started things off with a single. Peralta flied out to right, but Shin-Soo Choo singled Francisco to third. That prompted White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen a trip to the mound and he didn’t waste any time bringing out closer Bobby Jenks. Jenks trying for his 28th save of the season, would need five outs to put this one to rest. His first two pitches producing two outs via the double play, as Garko grounded to third baseman Juan Uribe, starting the 5-4-3 inning killer.
The Indians stuck with Betancourt in the ninth, and he mowed the first two Sox down in order. Jim Thome came in as a pinch hitter for Fields, and the Indians countered with Rich Rundles.
You are probably thinking the same thing I am. WHO? Rundles is a September call up and gave the Indians the Lefty- Lefty pairing against Thome. Rundles walked Thome on four pitches. Welcome to the Majors kid! Imagine your first outing you go up against a 500 home-run club hitter. I’d a walked him too.
That ended Rundles MLB pitching debut, as the Tribe went to Jensen Lewis, while Chicagocountered with Getz as a pinch runner. He took a stab at swiping second, and Shoppach threw him out to end the Chicago’s chance at tacking on an additional run.
Down to their last three outs, Carroll singled, but Shoppach hit a ground ball double play for the first two outs. Cabrera struck out, and the Chicago White Sox salvaged game three, avoiding a sweep in the process.
The Indians managed just two runs on nine hits. The White Sox picked up four runs on seven hits.
Chicago opened up a half game lead on the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are in Toronto later Wednesday night.
Cleveland resumes play Friday night in Kansas City at 8:10 PM. Anthony Reyes(2.93 ERA) pitches against Brandon Duckworth (4.91 ERA).
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2 months ago
The lack of capitalizing on the opportunities in the last 3 inning was a big bummer. It continues to be the team's Achilles heel (along with the Bullpen) even though they have been playing very well lately.
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