White Sox rally past slumping Indians
Associated Press
CHICAGO
Melky Cabrera threw his arms into the air as he rounded first base, and then was mobbed by the rest of his jubilant teammates.
One big finish rescued what had been a lousy night for the Chicago White Sox.
Cabrera capped Chicago’s four-run ninth inning with an RBI single off Cody Allen, sending the White Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday.
“I went to the home plate trying to put the ball in play and thank God I can do it,” Cabrera said through a translator.
Six consecutive batters reached safely before Cabrera drove a fastball into left-center for his first game-ending hit since he signed a $42 million, three-year contract with Chicago over the winter. Alexei Ramirez doubled home two runs and Gordon Beckham had a tying RBI single.
Allen (0-2) recorded just one out in his first blown save in four chances.
“Left some balls up. Got a little predictable,” Allen said. “Some good hitters, man, hitting’s contagious. Couple hits, they were kind of racing to the bat rack there at the end.”
David Robertson (1-0) worked a perfect ninth for his first win with the White Sox. Chicago had just four hits before the ninth-inning rally.
“I’m glad there’s no clock,” manager Robin Ventura said. “They couldn’t stall. You eventually have to get it and guys had some good at-bats there in the ninth.”
Trevor Bauer pitched seven sparkling innings for Cleveland, which has dropped seven of nine. Ryan Raburn and Brett Hayes homered, and Michael Brantley had an RBI double.
Bauer allowed four hits while lowering his ERA to 0.95. The right-hander beat Chicago in his previous outing, logging six effective innings in a 4-2 victory at home on Wednesday.
“I felt a lot better mechanically today,” he said. “I was a little bit off last outing. I felt a lot better. I felt like my release point was more consistent.”
Perhaps most importantly for Bauer and the Indians, he struck out seven and walked two in his longest start of the season. He walked nine in his first two outings.
Chicago left-hander John Danks allowed three runs and six hits in six innings in his best start of the young season.
Raburn had two hits and a walk on a damp, cool night, continuing his long history of tormenting the White Sox. He is a .301 hitter in 108 games against Chicago, with 18 of his 75 career homers.
He belted a long solo drive to left in the second for his first homer of the season. It was his fourth career homer against Danks.
Brantley doubled home Mike Aviles in the third, and Hayes went deep in the fifth in his first start of the season. Hayes’ drive to left hit the top of the wall and bounced over for his first homer since May 28 for Kansas City against Houston.