Bo Naylor delivered a pinch-hit, walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth and the Cleveland Guardians beat the visiting Chicago White Sox 7-6 on Tuesday night despite blowing a pair of multi-run leads.
Rookie Daniel Schneemann and Tyler Freeman each hit a two-run homer for Cleveland, which took advantage of mistake-prone Chicago to win its sixth straight at home. Andres Gimenez singled to lead off the ninth, went to second on a groundout and took third on a Michael Kopech (2-7) wild pitch.
Then, with one out, Naylor sent a fly ball to center, which Chicago's Luis Robert Jr. caught. Robert never attempted a throw to the plate as Gimenez scored.
That finish overshadowed a big offensive day for Robert, who hit a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth and roped a two-run single to level the game once again in seventh for the White Sox. Chicago fell to 8-34 on the road this year.
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco retired the first two batters of the game before Andrew Vaughn homered for a 1-0 Chicago lead. However, the Guardians moved in front in the third when Schneemann, with a man on, drove the ball over the right field wall, just inside the foul pole.
Cleveland went up 3-1 in the fifth when Freeman singled, went to second on a balk by Chicago starter Chris Flexen and scored on a single by Brayan Rocchio.
The White Sox tied it in the top of the sixth on Robert's two-run shot.
In the home half of the frame, Josh Naylor knocked a one-out double to left and scored when Chicago shortstop Paul DeJong hit him in the back while trying to get him out at third on a grounder by David Fry. Two batters later, Freeman sent a slider from Flexen over the left field fence for a 6-3 Guardians lead.
But in the seventh, Cleveland's Cade Smith allowed back-to-back singles by DeJong and Nicky Lopez and an RBI double by Lenyn Sosa. Then with two outs -- and Hunter Gaddis on the mound -- Robert ripped his two-run single to center to make it 6-6.
Emmanuel Clase (4-1) got the win for the Guardians with a 1-2-3 ninth.
--Field Level Media
Chi. White Sox | Cleveland | |
Chris Flexen | Player | Carlos Carrasco |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 6.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 7 |
6 | Hits | 4 |
4.50 | ERA | 4.50 |
Chi. White Sox | Cleveland | |
Luis Robert Jr. | Player | Tyler Freeman |
2 | Hits | 2 |
4 | RBI | 2 |
1 | HR | 1 |
5 | TB | 5 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. White Sox | 9 | 2 | 17 | .257 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Cleveland | 7 | 2 | 15 | .212 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |