Indians' walk-off HR knocks White Sox out of first place

[September 24, 2020]  Jordan Luplow drilled a walk-off solo home run and four pitchers combined on a four-hitter with 16 strikeouts to lift the host Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 victory against the White Sox on Wednesday, knocking Chicago out of first place in the American League Central.

The White Sox (34-22), who have lost four straight and five of six, fell a half-game behind the Twins (35-22) after Minnesota edged the Detroit Tigers 7-6 later Wednesday. The Indians (32-24) are 2 1/2 games behind the Twins.

Luplow kept the Indians' late-season surge rolling by sending a 3-0 fastball from Gio Gonzalez (1-2) over the left field fence. Brad Hand was the winner, improving to 2-1 with a perfect ninth.

Carlos Santana had a solo home run among his two hits for Cleveland, which was held to five hits and struck out 14 times.

Eloy Jimenez (double) and Yoan Moncada (triple) had extra-base hits for Chicago, which stranded seven runners compared to six for Cleveland.

Starting pitchers Shane Bieber of Cleveland and Lucas Giolito both took no-decisions.

Santana blasted a solo home run to right field against Giolito leading off the second as Cleveland opened the scoring for the third time in as many games in the series.

The White Sox manufactured a run against Bieber to tie the game in the fourth. Jose Abreu reached on an error to lead off the inning, advanced to third base on Jimenez's double and scored on Edwin Encarnacion's groundout.

Cleveland took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Franmil Reyes, but Chicago tied the game again in the eighth when Abreu hit a sacrifice fly.

White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (27) delivers in the second inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Bieber limited Chicago to one unearned run on two hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts in five innings. It was the third time he registered double-digit strikeouts in four September starts.

The final Bieber strikeout of the night thwarted a prime Chicago scoring chance to end the fifth. Bieber got Abreu to chase a breaking ball in the dirt with runners on the corners to preserve the 1-1 tie.

Giolito threw a career-high 119 pitches in six innings, spacing two runs on four hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts.

--Field Level Media

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