MLB
-
Pale Hose put win streak on line vs. Tribe
(Sports Network) - The Chicago White Sox put a six-game win streak on the line when the American League Central front-runners try for a series sweep of the floundering Cleveland Indians tonight at U.S. Cellular Field.
Chicago kept up its winning ways by putting together a tremendous late comeback in Tuesday's tussle with the Tribe. The White Sox scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to pull out a 3-2 victory.
Joe Borowski (1-3) came on for Cleveland in the 10th to protect a 2-1 lead and retired the first two Chicago hitters before serving up a game-tying homer to Alexei Ramirez.
Pinch-hitter Dewayne Wise followed with a single, stole second, and scored the winning run on Orlando Cabrera's base hit to center.
Casey Blake had put the Indians ahead in the top of the 10th with a solo home run off Sox reliever Matt Thornton.
Adam Russell picked up his first major league win after coming on for Thornton, who gave up singles to Ryan Garko and Kelly Shoppach following Blake's blast, and striking out Franklin Gutierrez to keep it a one-run game.
Both starting pitchers pitched brilliantly but did not factor in the final outcome.
Chicago's John Danks held the Indians to one run and four hits while striking out eight over eight outstanding innings, while Cleveland's Cliff Lee also hurled eight frames of one-run ball.
Tuesday's triumph was also the White Sox' eighth straight win at U.S. Cellular Field and 17th victory in the team's last 19 home games.
Chicago is an outstanding 29-11 as the host this season.
Cleveland, on the other hand, fell to 15-25 on the road and 11 1/2 games behind the White Sox in the division standings. The reigning Central champion Indians have lost four straight and seven of their last nine contests.
Chicago has also dominated this year's season series between the division foes.
The White Sox are 8-3 against Cleveland in 2008 and have won all five matchups with the Tribe held in the Windy City.
The Indians will attempt to close the gap tonight behind ace C.C. Sabathia, who certainly has not been affected by a host of recent trade rumors surrounding the impending free agent.
Sabathia has regained the form that enabled him to capture last year's AL Cy Young Award during the past few weeks. The burly left-hander has gone 3-0 with a 1.13 earned run average over his last four starts, having yielded just four runs in a span of 32 innings.
The three-time All-Star tossed eight shutout innings to defeat Cincinnati on Friday, limiting the Reds to just four hits and racking up 11 strikeouts. It was the third straight double-digit strikeout performance for Sabathia, who fanned 10 in a no-decision against the Dodgers on June 21 and 10 more during a June 15 victory over San Diego.
Sabathia has also given the White Sox fits all throughout his career. The 27- year-old is 14-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 25 career starts against Chicago, although he's had a loss and a no-decision in two encounters with the Sox this year.
He was a hard-luck loser in his last visit to the U.S. Cellular Field mound, which came on May 20. Sabathia held Chicago to two runs and struck out eight through seven innings but wound up on the wrong end of a 4-1 decision.
Jose Contreras outdueled Sabathia in that May matchup and will try to do so again for Chicago in tonight's finale. The Cuban defector gave up just one run and four hits through six innings in his most recent encounter with Cleveland, which improved him to 5-2 with a 3.14 ERA over 12 lifetime games (11 starts) against the Indians.
Contreras struggled mightily during a stretch of three straight losses from June 10-21, but put forth a better effort in Friday's 10-3 win over the crosstown rival Cubs. He did allow three home runs in a six-inning stint, but all were solo shots and the veteran righty got more than enough run support to pick up the win.
The 36-year-old had surrendered 19 runs (18 earned) and 30 hits over just 16 innings during his three-start slide.
07/02 10:57:55 ET