Hello, Cleveland!
Sox pound 5 homers to rock 1st-place Guardians, gain ground in division
CLEVELAND — Elvis Andrus hit one of Chicago’s five home runs off rookie Hunter Gaddis — and backed up a pregame swipe at the Guardians — as the White Sox cut Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central to three games with an 8-2 victory in a makeup game Thursday.
Andrus connected in the fifth inning off Gaddis (0-2), who became the first Cleveland pitcher to allow five homers in a game since Luis Tiant in 1969.
On Wednesday, Andrus raised some eyebrows by telling reporters he expected the first-place Guardians “to crumble, the closer we get.”
Gavin Sheets hit a two-run homer in the second to start Chicago’s homer barrage against Gaddis, and Andrew Vaughn, Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal joined Andrus by hitting shots off the right-hander.
Lance Lynn (7-5) limited the Guardians to two run and six hits in6 ⅓ innings. The right-hander is 5-0 in his last seven starts.
Cleveland had its winning streak stopped at six as it began a run of nine straight games against the White Sox and Minnesota Twins, the club’s two closest pursuers in one of baseball’s only tight division races.
Before the game, Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said he had heard about Andrus’ comment but dismissed it as “outside noise.”
It got a little louder for Cleveland. Sheets and Vaughn connected for consecutive homers in the second off the 24-year-old Gaddis, who was making his second major league start.
Gaddis started the inning by walking Eloy Jimenez and Sheets followed with his 13th homer, a shot into the seats in right that brought a shouting Andrus out of the dugout to high-five teammates along the rail.
Vaughn fouled off two pitches before making it 3-0 with his 16th homer of the season, which again sent Andrus into celebration.