CHICAGO — Carlos Santana and Leonys Martin homered and the Cleveland Indians took advantage of a White Sox blunder on the bases to end Chicago’s five-game streak with a 5-2 victory on Saturday.
The Indians climbed back to .500 and prevented the White Sox from reaching the break-even mark for the first time since April 5.
Chicago loaded the bases with no outs in the third on a single by Tim Anderson and walks to Yolmer Sanchez and Charlie Tilson. Leury Garcia hit a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead, but pitcher Jefry Rodriguez escaped further damage when he caught Sanchez off second on pickoff attempt.
Sanchez got caught in a rundown and was tagged out by third baseman Jose Ramirez, who then threw over to first base to get Tilson retreating to the bag to end the inning.
Santana’s solo homer off Ivan Nova (3-5) made it 2-1 in the sixth. It was Santana’s 11th home run of the season.
Jake Bauers hit a leadoff double in the Cleveland seventh and with two outs, Martin broke an 0-for-14 slump with his seventh home run.
Indians reliever Oliver Perez (1-0) replaced Rodriguez in the fifth and went 1 2/3 innings for the win. Rodriguez left after four innings with right lat tightness.
Brad Hand pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 16 chances.
An error by White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada set up Jason Kipnis’ sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Yonder Alonso had a sacrifice fly in the Chicago seventh that made it 4-2. Kevin Plawecki added an insurance run with an RBI single in the Cleveland ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: RHP Mike Clevinger (strained upper back muscle) was on schedule to throw simulated game at the Indians’ training facility in Goodyear, Arizona on Saturday. . OF Tyler Naquin (left calf strain) is continuing his rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus and was expected to play on Saturday night at Durham. . Manager Terry Francona said OF Bradley Zimmer (right shoulder surgery in July 2018), played at Goodyear on Friday. The 26-year-old Zimmer could be ready to move to Triple-A in the next phase of his rehab. “From what the medical people say it would be a minimum of two weeks to be where he has ramped up and then you can make a decision not necessary on his health, but on baseball. That’s kind of the way they described it. That’s probably the low end. Two or three weeks, then you can make a decision, all of a sudden it’s not a medical decision, it’s a baseball decision,” Francona said.
White Sox: Catcher Welington Castillo was activated from the concussion list. Castillo left the game on May 24 against the Twins after getting hit by two foul tips in the mask. To make room for Castillo, the White Sox optioned catcher Seby Zavala after Friday’s win against the Indians.
UP NEXT
Indians right-hander Zach Plesac faces White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (7-1, 2.85 ERA) on Sunday afternoon. Giolito has been among the best pitchers in the majors in his last eight starts. His six-game winning streak is tied for the second longest in the majors. He is 6-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last eight outings. Plesac is scheduled to make his second career start. In his first big league start against Boston on Tuesday, he allowed one run on four hits in 5 1-3 innings.
