An expected low-scoring battle between top-flight starters Jeff Samardzija and Corey Kluber turned into a 6-0 White Sox victory over the Indians on Wednesday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. By virtue of its four-run rally in the ninth inning Monday, Chicago picked up a second series victory this season. But the White Sox win in the finale wasn’t as routine as the score would indicate.
Samardzija threw six scoreless innings to earn his first White Sox victory, but he needed 113 pitches to accomplish that. He pitched out of jams in the second, third and sixth innings. Kluber, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, allowed 13 hits over six-plus innings, but four of them came at the start of the seventh. He fanned six and walked one.
“I made some mistakes,” Kluber said. “And I probably didn’t do a good enough job pitching inside to keep them off balance when I did make those mistakes.”
“It’s all about proving yourself to these guys,” Samardzija said. “You get new teammates, and you want to come out here and make sure you prove your worth to them and they want to go out there and play with you and be out there on tough days like that. They went out there and played great for me and Geo [Soto] called a great game and got me through it.”
Jose Abreu homered and drove in three runs, while Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, Alexei Ramirez and Micah Johnson also had multihit efforts. The White Sox improved to 4-2 at home.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
