The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Tribe winning streak halted at five
Loss to White Sox on April 23 is only setback on six-game trip
Tribe would have finished off an undefeated trip, but the White Sox were determined to not be shut out.
CHICAGO >> An Indians’ victory would have finished off an undefeated trip, but the White Sox were determined to not be shut out for the whole weekend on April 23.
Melky Cabrera drove in a pair of runs, Derek Holland tossed six strong innings and Chicago busted out of an offensive funk for a 6-2 victory over the Tribe.
Avisail Garcia and Leury Garcia each added run-scoring hits for Chicago, which had managed a total of six hits in the first two games of the series. The win snapped a threegame skid.
Francisco Lindor homered for the Indians, who had their five-game winning streak end.
Holland (2-2) allowed one run on three hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out six in lowering his earned run average to 1.99.
“He was mixing up speeds, hitting his spots, coming hard in to righties,” Indians left fielder Brandon Guyer said. “He had good stuff today, pretty similar to the last time we faced him.”
Indians starter Danny Salazar (1-2) allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings.
Following back-to-back three-hit shutouts, the White Sox broke through immediately April 23.
Tim Anderson led off the bottom of the first with a double and advanced to third on a single by Tyler Saladino. Cabrera then drove in Anderson with a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0, snapping a 23-inning scoreless streak for Chicago. Cleveland pitchers also entered with a 23-inning scoreless streak.
Jose Abreu followed with a line-drive single and the ball scooted past right fielder Abraham Almonte — allowing Saladino to score from first base and Abreu to advance to third.
Two batters later, Leury Garcia singled to drive in Abreu and make it 3-0.
“I didn’t have that great a feeling with the changeup the whole game,” Salazar said. “I try to do the best I can out there. Not thinking about (the error). Abraham has made some amazing plays for me out there.”
Cleveland got a run back in the fourth on a lead-off home run by Lindor.
In the top of the fifth, Austin Jackson led off with a double and Almonte followed with a walk. Both runners then advanced a base on a wild pitch. But Holland struck out three of the next four batters — working around a two-out walk to Carlos Santana to load the bases — to escape the jam. A strikeout of Lindor ended the threat.
“It was a big jam because he had some guys coming up there that could do some damage,” Chicago manager
Rick Renteria said.
Miscues
The Indians entered the game with a total of seven errors on the season, but had three on April 23 in a sloppy performance.
“It makes it hard when you’re playing like that,” Manager Terry Francona said. “We didn’t finish some plays. We kicked around the ball a little bit.”
Cleveland connection
Holland, an Ohio native, is now 7-1 with a 2.27 ERA against the Indians in his career.
“I’m not going to think anything of that,” he said. “No matter what, that’s an unbelievable team over there. They’ve done some great things for the state of Ohio. I’ve got a lot of friends and family back there that’s pulling from them, except for when they’re playing me.”
Trainer’s room
White Sox: RHP Zach Putnam is listed as day-today after leaving the April 22 with soreness in the back of the elbow. “Putnam is available,” Renteria said before the game. “But would I use him? Probably not.” . LHP Carlos Rodon (bursitis in left biceps) and Jake Petricka (strained right lat) both returned to Chicago this weekend to be evaluated before the next phase of their rehab is determined.
Up next
Indians: Following a day off, they begin a threegame home series against the Astros on April 25 with RHP Josh Tomlin (1-2, 11.68 ERA) taking on LHP Dallas Keuchel (3-0, 0.96) in the opener. White Sox: They begin a three-game home series against the Kansas City Royals on April 24 with RHP Miguel Gonzalez (2-0, 2.84 ERA) facing LHP Jason Vargas (3-0, 0.44).