An 18-pitch battle in the sixth inning turned Monday night in Cleveland, and the White Sox made sure the Guardians paid for it.
Tristan Peters wore down Gavin Williams in a marathon plate appearance, fouling off 12 pitches with two strikes before drawing a walk that kicked off a six-run sixth inning in Chicago’s 7-3 win at Progressive Field. The result pushed the first-place White Sox to a 1 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central with 11 regular season games left, and Chicago also secured the season series 7-4, giving it the tiebreaker if the teams finish tied.
In the larger picture, the White Sox now effectively hold a 2 1/2-game edge in the division race.
Peters’ at-bat was the kind that changes a night. It was the longest plate appearance in the majors this season, according to Elias, and tied for the third longest since 2000. Williams, who eventually threw a season-high 113 pitches, said, “It was a very good at-bat by a good player,” and added, “I was counting the number of pitches at one point, then I just stopped counting.”
Peters had a simpler read on it: “I felt like I was up there for an hour. I was exhausted. After like eight pitches, I was like, ‘OK, this is getting pretty long.’”
The Guardians had the scoreless game under control until Peters finally drew ball four on an 82-mph curveball. After that, everything broke Chicago’s way.
Andrew Benintendi had opened the inning with a single, and Peters’ walk put runners on first and second with nobody out. Colson Montgomery then hit a grounder to Nathaniel Lowe at first, and Lowe’s throw to second struck Peters in the helmet as Benintendi scored and Peters ended up at third.
“That was probably one of the best feelings ever,” Peters said.
Lowe explained the play this way: “getting to where he needed to get. I hit him right in the head. I’m pretty sure if I don’t hit him in the head, I hit (shortstop Brayan) Rocchio right in the chest and we have a chance to get two outs.”
Chase Meidroth followed with an RBI single, Braden Montgomery struck out, and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk singled to load the bases. Kyle Teel then delivered a two-run double to left, and even though a relay cut down Grichuk at the plate, the White Sox weren’t done. Miguel Vargas capped the inning with a two-run homer off rookie Daniel Espino, his 31st of the season and third against Cleveland, to make it 6-0.
Williams, making his first start since Sept. 6 against Detroit, gave up two runs, one earned, over five innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. He’s now 0-1 with a 3.54 ERA in four starts against the White Sox this season.
Sean Burke handled the other side of the matchup well for Chicago. After opener Sean Newcomb in the second inning, Burke worked five innings and allowed one unearned run. He improved to 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA against Cleveland this year, having given up two earned runs in 17 1/3 innings.
The White Sox had come in struggling, losing 10 of their last 14 games and watching Cleveland trim the gap to one-half game. The Guardians, meanwhile, had won 15 of their previous 23 before Monday.
Cleveland did get on the board in the sixth when José Ramírez singled home its first run, and David Fry added a two-run homer in the ninth. But by then the big damage had already been done.
There was one more concern for the Guardians when left fielder Angel Martinez left after striking out in the seventh because of soreness in his right side. Martinez leads the team with 15 homers.
“We did it out of precaution,” said Vogt. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Vogt tried to keep the focus on what comes next. “This team’s not going to get down by one loss,” he said. “We have two more games in this series.
“We know what we’re up against. We know that there’s an 11-game sprint to the end, but we can only take care of one game at a time. We’re going to be ready to go Tuesday.”
In Other News...
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The issue now is how the Guardians balance what Cantillo has given them against what he might have left for the stretch run. He is coming off a career-high number of starts, and the club has to account for control issues that surfaced in the second half, which makes his usage a real decision point rather than just a matter of filling innings. [Read more 🡒]