Lane Thomas had three hits and four RBIs and Austin Hedges homered as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the host Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Wednesday afternoon to cap a three-game sweep.
Cleveland (84-62) extended its lead atop the American League Central to four games over the Royals ahead of Kansas City’s game later Wednesday.
Chicago (33-114) stretched its franchise-record home losing streak to 15 games. The White Sox must finish 10-5 or better to avoid matching the 1962 New York Mets for the most single-season losses in modern baseball history (120).
Five Guardians pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts. Cleveland’s bullpen contributed 4 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, with Nick Sandlin (8-0) tossing 1 1/3 scoreless frames.
Emmanuel Clase worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 44th save, moving one ahead of St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley for the major league lead.
Chicago right-hander Davis Martin, who returned from 2022 Tommy John surgery in July, struggled through his shortest of eight starts this season while navigating some tough luck.
Martin (0-4) allowed five runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts over three innings. The lone extra-base hit he surrendered was Hedges’ leadoff home run in the third inning that made it 3-0 Guardians.
Thomas collected a pair of two-run infield singles. His first came with two outs and two men in scoring position in the first inning. Thomas beat the throw on a slow roller to third base and the White Sox had no play on a hustling Jose Ramirez, who scored from second.
Cleveland led 5-0 entering the bottom of the third after Hedges’ homer and Thomas’ second two-run infield hit. Chicago capitalized on shoddy Guardians defense in the bottom of the frame to score four runs against starter Matthew Boyd.
Two Cleveland errors aided the White Sox, including a botched toss to second base on a would-be double-play ball. Boyd also balked in a run with the bases loaded.
Miguel Vargas drove in a run on a groundout after the Guardians couldn’t corral his foul pop-up, and Dominic Fletcher had a two-out RBI single that deflected off Boyd’s glove.
Boyd spaced four runs (one earned) and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and fanned nine.
Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez had two hits for Cleveland. Chicago’s Lenyn Sosa and Bryan Ramos had two hits apiece.
–Field Level Media