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 After beating the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Thursday night at U.S.
Cellular Field, they now trail the first-place Kansas City Royals by
5 1/2 games and have a chance to tighten the gap with three straight
weekend games at Kauffman Stadium.
"It's exciting," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "I mean,
shoot, they're playing great. But we don't need to get ahead of
ourselves. We just need to show up (Friday) and win. We do that,
we'll be alright."
Carlos Carrasco pitched 6 2/3 strong innings Thursday and struck out
seven for the win, allowing one run and four hits. Right-handed
closer Cody Allen got four outs for his 18th save, with all four on
strikeouts -- just the second time an Indians pitcher has done that
in the past 100 seasons.
Carrasco is now 3-0 with a 0.73 ERA in his past four starts,
striking out 15 combined in his past two outings.
"He continues to do it," Francona said. "He came out and established
his fastball. He held (the velocity), especially when he saw the end
coming. He reached back for more."
Left-hander John Danks (9-9) started for Chicago and took the loss,
yielding two runs and five hits in six innings.
The White Sox (60-73) made things interesting in the eighth.
A two-out single off Allen by designated hitter Adam Dunn scored
shortstop Alexei Ramirez to make it 3-2, but the Indians closer
ended the threat by striking out right fielder Avisail Garcia on a
96 mph fastball with runners on second and third.
He then struck out the side in the ninth.
It was Cleveland's third straight series win and fifth in the past
six (5-0-1). The Indians now sit four games back of the Seattle
Mariners for the American League's second wild card.
Center fielder Michael Bourn paced Cleveland offensively by going
3-for-5 and hitting two triples. Shortstop Jose Ramirez went 2-for-5
with an RBI and second baseman Jason Kipnis went 1-for-3 with an
RBI.
The White Sox, who ended a seven-game losing streak Wednesday, have
dropped eight of their past nine games and 15 of the past 20.
This time, the biggest reason was Carrasco.
"Their guy pitched a great game tonight," White Sox manager Robin
Ventura said. "(He's got) a great arm, and we didn't really have
much against him. Once we got him out of there, we had a chance in
the eighth inning, and we didn't get it done."
The hard-throwing Carrasco reached the 50-pitch mark within three
innings but settled into a rhythm and lasted into the seventh.
Locating a mid-to-upper 90s fastball for the duration of his start,
Carrasco kept the White Sox off the bases most of the night.
After allowing an RBI single by first baseman Jose Abreu in the
third inning, Carrasco retired 12 in a row before a single by
catcher Tyler Flowers with two outs in the seventh prompted a
pitching change. Aggressiveness was the key.
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"For the last few games, that's what I've been doing," Carrasco said.
"Today, they tried to cheat on my fastball and I just started to use the
two-seamer, back and forth, inside and down and away with my slider
too."
Meanwhile, the Indians recaptured a lead they'd coughed up in the third.
Kipnis, from nearby Northbrook, Ill., untied the game in the sixth by
doing what he does best against his hometown team. He lined a single off
Danks that scored Ramirez from third with two outs for a 2-1 lead. In 27
career games against the White Sox, Kipnis has now hit safely in 25 of
them, including all three in this series.
It became a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning after Danks left the game in
favor of right-hander Ronald Belisario. Left fielder Michael Brantley
singled home another run with two outs by lofting a soft liner into
shallow left field to score catcher Roberto Perez.
That was all the Indians needed.
Carrasco and left-hander Marc Rzepcznyski shared the seventh and the
bullpen took care of the final two innings. Right-hander Bryan Shaw got
two outs in the eighth before Allen was summoned to finish that inning
and the ninth.
NOTES: The Indians traded minor league LHP Josh Outman to the Yankees
for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Outman, 29, was
3-1 with a 4.43 ERA in 23 appearances (one start) at Triple-A Columbus
this season. ... White Sox manager Robin Ventura said RHP Chris Bassitt
will start the second game of a split doubleheader Saturday against the
Detroit Tigers. LHP Chris Sale will start the first game. Bassitt, who
missed most of the season with a broken hand, is 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA in
six starts for Double-A Birmingham and hasn't pitched above that level.
... Cleveland manager Terry Francona didn't confirm that injured C Yan
Gomes would come off the seven-day disabled list Friday in Kansas City,
when he's first eligible, but said it's a possibility. The Indians'
athletic training staff, along with Francona, would make the decision
sometime before the series opener against the Royals. ... Cleveland
1B/DH Nick Swisher remains in Los Angeles rehabbing his surgically
repaired knees and will likely spend the rest of the season there.
Swisher is expected to be fine for spring training next year.
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