First Chris Sale. Now Trevor Bauer.
Dylan Covey once again toppled the American League's best, surviving 10 hits and a few more allowed by the bullpen to prevail in a poor matchup on paper.
Covey couldn't compete with Trevor Bauer by game score, losing in that category 77-61 …
- Bauer: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 12 K
- Covey: 7 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
… but just like in his start against Sale, the Sox bunched their few hits in the most productive fashion.
It was scoreless into the fifth, when Bauer issued a leadoff walk to Tim Anderson. Charlie Tilson showed bunt, but smartly pulled the bat back as Anderson took off. Roberto Perez's throw was well wide and bounced into center field, and Anderson took third on the error.
Tilson then roped a line drive just inside the right-field line to score Anderson, and despite battling his helmet rounding second, he was able to slide into third for his first career triple. Adam Engel struck out to foreshadow disappointment, but the Sox once again executed a fine squeeze play with Trayce Thompson at the plate to score Tilson for a 2-0 lead.
An inning later, Jose Abreu hooked a double to left with one out. After Daniel Palka struck out, Kevan Smith fell behind 0-2, but worked the count full. On the sixth pitch, he shot a single to right. He shot it a little too hard, as he gave Melky Cabrera an excellent chance to nail Abreu at the plate with the arm he liked showing off on the South Side. However, the throw took a high hop off the grass before the cutout around home, and Abreu slid in feet-first before Perez could bring the ball all the way down.
Covey, who had sidestepped damage all night, left to a standing ovation with nobody out in the eighth while leaving runners on second and third. The Indians opened with two singles, and Thompson made it worse by missing the cutoff man on an ill-advised attempt to get Francisco Lindor at third.
In came Jace Fry, who induced a first-pitch groundout to third to freeze the runners. But Edwin Encarnacion singled to left, and Yonder Alonso whipped a hanging curve over first base for a double that made it 3-2. Pinch-running Rajai Davis was running on the play, but he could only advance to third.
The Indians had two cracks at scoring, but Fry rose to the occasion. He struck out Melky Cabrera with a fastball above the belt, then got Jason Kipnis to flail at a hard breaking ball away to end the threat.
Joakim Soria came in and gave up a pair of one-out singles, but Michael Brantley's grounder went right to Yoan Moncada, who stepped on second and threw to first for a game-ending 4-3 double play.
Covey is now 3-1 with a 2.29 ERA, and he still hasn't allowed a homer this season. He induced nine groundouts to three flyouts, although that tally doesn't register the flared singles he gave up. He didn't have the greatest command, but he threw strikes and received strong support, at least until Thompson's throw. Thompson and Engel made catches on the warning track, and Abreu turned a 3-6 double play and a 3-5 double play (stepping on first, then cutting down Jason Kipnis at third). Chuck Garfien called the latter one the best play he's ever seen Abreu make, and he could be right. With that kind of help, the Indians were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position through the first seven innings.
They finished 2-for-13 in that department with nine stranded, while the White Sox were 2-for-6 and only left three on base.
Bullet point:
*Sanchez went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk against Bauer. He's now 1-for-22 with a walk, three HBPs and 11 strikeouts against Bauer in his career.
Record: 24-42 | Box score
