White Sox 5, Guardians 3: Comeback in Cleveland

Ah, dang. What a tough break for the vanquished. Keep respecting the game, though

The Chicago White Sox have silenced the Cleveland Guardians and their fans after taking the series and the game this afternoon, 5-3. This came after a crazy ninth inning. Although there haven’t been many exciting comebacks this year, this one did feel sweet.

The White Sox got off to an early lead in the top of the first inning off of Xzavion Curry, as Elvis Andrus led it off with a double and Luis Robert Jr. quickly drove him in with a triple.

Eloy Jiménez drove Robert in with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 2-0.

Jesse Scholtens started the game for the White Sox, and at this point he might as well be our ace. Scholtens struck out the side in the second, and didn’t allow a run until the fifth inning, when Kole Calhoun doubled and Gabriel Arias hit a two-run shot to tie the game. The inning continued as Brayan Rocchio doubled and Andrus made a throwing error on a deflected ball hit by Myles Straw to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead.

Of course, the internet had a good time with the narrative of “Tim Anderson isn’t playing today so Andrus is in his spot and he just gave up an error to give the Guardians the lead” but all those people should be embarrassed now, and you’ll see why later on.

Nick Sandlin replaced Curry to start the sixth inning, as the swingman had a solid five innings with four hits, two runs, and four strikeouts.

Robert had another highlight play on defense to prevent a run from scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on, as he took away a hit from Calhoun.

Lane Ramsey made his MLB debut in relief of Scholtens, who went six innings with six hits, three runs, and six strikeouts. Ramsey had a clean inning, as did Sammy Peralta after him.

The real fun came in the bottom of the ninth against Emmanuel Clase, ejected from last night’s game for fake-tough posing. Down one run, Jiménez started it with a leadoff single and Andrew Benintendi pinch-ran for him at first. Andrew Vaughn also singled, to put runners on first and second with nobody out. In typical White Sox fashion, Trayce Thompson and Yasmani Grandal struck out back-to-back, leaving it up to Oscar Colás.

Thanks to a little help from Rocchio at third base, Colás reached due to a throwing error. Zach Remillard was down to a 0-2 count against Clase and hit a ball right back to Rocchio, who redeemed himself with a great throw to end the game!

Oh wait, that didn’t happen.

Instead, Rocchio shanked the throw again to score Benintendi at third and tie the game. It would have been better if José Ramírez was at third base, but we will take what we can get.

Andrus went on to be the hero, with a two-run single to give the White Sox a 5-3 lead and complete the comeback — but of course, nobody on the internet wanted to post that ...

... or his sliding play to preserve a runner from reaching in the bottom of the ninth inning with a runner on second and Jimmy Lambert on the mound to close it out.

Anyways, Robert made the last out in center and Lambert recorded his first save, and all was well.

Luckily, we don’t have to see that team the rest of the year so let’s all just move on and enjoy the fact that we at least got a series win in their ballpark and took the season series as well.

Tomorrow, the New York Yankees head to Guaranteed Rate Field, as Gerrit Cole and Dylan Cease go head-to-head. Game time is at 7:10 p.m. CT, and I will be watching from my new current destination, San Diego.

Everyone have a beautiful rest of your Sunday and enjoy the sweet taste of a win.

Six Pack of Stats

By JORDAN HASS

FanGraphs

The White Sox pulled off a miraculous win today against the Guardians. A solid day from the pitching staff and a couple of lucky errors and a clutch single in the ninth from Elvis Andrus brought home a W in the game and the series for the Pale Hose. Let’s break down the stats in this 5-3 win.

Pressure Play
Zach Remillard’s 9.20 LI, two-out grounder in the ninth where he reached on an error and drove in the game-tying run was the biggest of the game.

Pressure Cooker
With a 5.14 pLI, Emmanuel Clase faced the most average pressure this afternoon, and (with no help from his defense) crumbled under it to blow the save.

Zach Remillard had a 3.41 pLI for the Sox, and while an errant throw helped him reach base, he rose and made the contact that tied the game.

Top Play
Elvis Andrus’ two-run single in the ninth to take the lead garnered a 39.1% WPA.

Top Performer
Elvis’ 42.0% WPA bolstered by three hits and two RBIs put him far ahead of everyone today.

Hardest Hit
With a 106.6 mph exit velocity, Elvis Andrus’ two-RBI single wasn’t just the biggest play of the game, but most-crushed baseball.

Weakest Contact
Oscar Colás reached base on an error in the ninth on contact of just 51.6 mph. This play loaded the bases and set the stage for the Sox win.

Luckiest Hit
Miles Straw singled in the fifth with a .130 xBA

Toughest Out
José Ramírez had a line out in the fourth that may have been karma coming back to bite him, as the liner had a .820 xBA.

Longest Hit
Luis Robert Jr.’s 422-foot RBI triple in the first inning would have been a home run in every ballpark except Progressive Field and Chase Field in Arizona.

Oh, and Luis also later robbed Kole Calhoun of extra bases on a ball that had a .620 xBA.

Magic Number: 2
The number of errors by the Guardians in the ninth, as well as the number of RBIs Elvis Andrus had in that same inning to seal the victory for the Good Guys.

Oh, hey, also the number of losses Cleveland has endured since José Ramírez decided to school Tim Anderson over disrespecting the game.