The White Sox have faced Trevor Bauer twice, and they've beaten him twice. Or maybe it'd be fair to say Cleveland's defense did him in tonight. Either way, Dylan Covey had an easier night than the Indians' No. 1 starter, and the White Sox and Indians are now tied for second in the AL Central at 28-29.
The Indians committed four errors behind Bauer, and that didn't account for all the ways they messed up. The White Sox converted those mistakes into crooked numbers that effectively put the game away in the middle innings, and now they're 5-0 during this homestand.
The Sox had trailed 1-0 entering the bottom of the third when Yoan Moncada looped a fly to left. It fell into the triangle, but Moncada made his own mistake by not hustling and limited himself to a single. Because he didn't run, he could only make it to third when Francisco Lindor fired a wild throw into the Cleveland dugout after retrieving a deflection of Yonder Alonso's grounder.
Bauer got Eloy Jiménez to ground out to third, but Charlie Tilson followed by slicing a fly that landed just inside the left-field foul line for a two-run double, giving the Sox a lead they didn't relinquish.
That said, the Indians kept wanting to give them runs, so the Sox kept taking them.
In the fourth, Seby Zavala's flare to right landed in between Greg Allen and Jason Kipnis in right for his first MLB hit, moving Yolmer Sánchez to second. Leury García dropped a bunt in front of the mound, which Bauer fielded and threw to third. Mike Freeman was the third baseman in name only, as he was well off the bag when he caught the ball and couldn't find it in time to beat Sanchez's slide. That loaded the bases with nobody out.
Bauer looked intent on minimizing the damage, striking out Moncada and getting a deep sacrifice fly by Jose Abreu. He then appeared to close the inning when Alonso hit a grounder to first, but Carlos Santana kicked it into right field allowing two more unearned runs to score. The Sox led 5-1, and they made it 6-1 when Tim Anderson reached on a bad throw by Freeman, stole second on a ball that ended up in center field, and scored on Sánchez's single to right. Sánchez took second on another error -- Allen's throw from right was to nobody -- but he didn't factor into the score.
That was four more runs than Covey needed. He allowed a homer to Francisco Lindor on the third pitch of the game, but after he sidestepped further damage by stranding two on a flyout to left, he faced very little heat.
In fact, Covey might've given better than he got. After Bauer hit Sánchez on the back shoulder blade with a fastball up and very in during the second inning, Covey threw behind the legs of Roberto Perez with two outs in the fourth, prompting home plate umpire Paul Nauert to issue warnings. Maybe it wasn't necessary, but Covey did it the right way -- he kept the ball low, he didn't hit the guy, and he ended up striking him out for good measure.
Cleveland's weak lineup factored into Covey's success for certain, but he also used a different pitch mix. For the first time all season, Covey threw more cutters than anything else, accounting for 37 of his 98 pitches. He didn't get many groundouts as a result -- only four -- but Zavala called for elevated pitches against a heavily left-handed Indians lineup, and Covey executed well enough to earn his first win since last August, and his first win as a starter since last July.
In another easy game for the bullpen, Josh Osich handed two innings by himself, and Juan Minaya pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
Bullet points:
*Zavala entered the game 0-for-5 with five strikeouts, and now he's 1-for-9 with seven strikeouts. He also picked up a win as a catcher, so at least he was able to notch a couple of firsts before Welington Castillo returns. Zavala was optioned to Charlotte after the game.
*Bauer struck out eight over seven innings, but that's less impressive that it sounds considering he faced 35 batters. The Sox did put the ball in play, and to their benefit.
*Jiménez helped out Covey with a leaping catch in front of the warning track that was his best effort to date.
*Abreu also turned a liner into a double play after chasing Bauers around the bag, so the White Sox' defense was every bit as good as Cleveland's wasn't.
Record: 28-29 | Box score | Highlights
