Indians keep White Sox at bay with split

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Alexei Ramirez’s seventh-inning single broke the game’s final tie and led Chicago to a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night, giving the White Sox a split of the day-night doubleheader.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s solo home run and six strong innings from Fausto Carmona gave Cleveland a 4-3 win in the first game.

Matt Thornton (2-5) pitched 11/3 innings for the win in the second game and Chris Sale went the final 12/3 innings for his seventh save.

Cleveland took a 4-3 lead into the seventh before Chicago rallied against rookie reliever Zach Putnam (0-1).

Both teams started rookies in the second game. Dylan Axelrod, making his second major-league start, allowed four runs in 42/3 innings for the White Sox while Zach McAllister, in his third big-league start, gave up two runs in 51/3 innings for the Indians.

Cleveland managed one hit off Axelrod through three innings before scoring four times in the fourth. Jim Thome’s RBI single gave Cleveland the lead. Matt LaPorta’s run-scoring double and sacrifice flies by Grady Sizemore and Jack Hannahan completed the scoring.

Carmona (7-15) allowed three runs in six innings and won for the first time since Aug. 17.

Travis Hafner and Kosuke Fukudome also homered off Gavin Floyd (12-12), who hasn’t won since Aug. 29.

Hafner’s two-run homer in the first gave Cleveland the lead, but Chicago tied the game in the second on Adam Dunn’s RBI double and Alejandro De Aza’s run-scoring single.

Orlando Cabrera’s home run put Cleveland ahead and was his 24th of the season. Cabrera, who entered Saturday’s game against Minnesota in an 0-for-20 slump, has eight hits in his last 13 at-bats.