Fresh off an 8-3 victory that featured three homers, the White Sox went bombs away again on Tuesday night. Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger went yard for the second and third games in a row, respectively, and Mike Clevinger pitched a quality start to lead the South Siders to a 7-2 victory.
Josh Bell got the Guardians off to a 1-0 jump with a double in the first inning, but the Sox quickly flipped the script and never looked back. Sheets’ bomb tied up the game, and one inning later the home team broke it open. First, Cleveland starter Peyton Battlefield served up a middle-middle fastball to Andrew Vaughn that found a home in left-center, then Jake Burger hit a moonshot to left to stretch the advantage to 4-1.
Clevinger coasted until the seventh inning, and Chicago expanded their lead to six in the meantime with a few base knocks at the top of the order. Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada registered the RBIs there. Still, the Guardians threatened in the seventh after loading the bases with nobody out. However, Reynaldo Lopez calmly ended the rally, yielding just one run on a walk and retiring the other three batters he faced.
Joe Kelly looked amazing once more in the eighth, and Kendall Graveman allowed just one baserunner in the ninth to close out the win. After two wins in a row, the White Sox are now 16-28.
W: Mike Clevinger (3-3) | L: Peyton Battlefield (0-5)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
- Bottom 2nd: Gavin Sheets (6) homers to center field. 1-1.
- Bottom 4th: Andrew Vaughn (5) homers to left field. 2-1 White Sox.
- Bottom 4th: Jake Burger homers (9) to left field. Yasmani Grandal scores. 4-1 White Sox.
- Bottom 5th: Yoan Moncada singles to left field. Andrew Benintendi scores.5-1 White Sox.
- Bottom 6th: Tim Anderson singles to right field. Adam Haseley scores. 6-1 White Sox.
- Bottom 6th: Andrew Benintendi grounds into a fielders choice. Hanser Alberto Scores. 7-1 White Sox.
Notable Performances
Mike Clevinger: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
While his ERA is only down to a subpar 4.56 mark, Clevinger has looked solid in his last four starts. Tonight marked his third straight contest completing six innings, and his fourth straight surrendering four or fewer runs.
Jake Burger: 3-for-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI, 1 R
Burger is shaping up to be one of the best power hitters in the American League. Impressively, he’s able to do it in spite of (due to?) a lack of plate discipline, as his dinger tonight came on his 23rd consecutive swing!
Andrew Benintendi: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 2B
Though he still sports zero home runs on the year, Benintendi came through with three total bases tonight.
Gavin Sheets: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 2B
Sheets got his money’s worth tonight, earning an ejection on a bad call on top of his deep blast.
Joe Kelly: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 1 K
Kelly’s 3.18 ERA is stellar, but it doesn’t tell the full story. He’s thrown seven straight scoreless appearances of at least one inning, and his peripherals are fantastic, with a FIP and xFIP both under 2.00!
Next Matchup
The White Sox will look for a series sweep tomorrow, with Dylan Cease looking to build off his last start against Logan Allen.
NBC Sports Chicago will carry the broadcast for the 1:10 pm CT contest.
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Featured Image: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
