Indians Beat Sale, White Sox 6-2
CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Tomlin beat Chris Sale in a one-sided matchup of unbeaten pitchers and Francisco Lindor had three hits, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Tomlin pitched eight innings of two-run ball to become the first Indians starter to reach 7-0 since Dennis Martinez won his first nine decisions in 1995. Sale was knocked out in the fourth, ending his bid to become the first pitcher to win his first 10 starts in a season since Andy Hawkins for San Diego in 1985.
It was baseball's first matchup of 6-0 or better pitchers since 1988, and only the fourth time in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Chris Gimenez homered for Cleveland, which had lost three in a row before Monday's 5-1 victory at Chicago in the second game of a doubleheader. Jose Ramirez walked twice and scored twice, and Mike Napoli drove in two runs.
Adam Eaton hit his fifth career leadoff homer and Jose Abreu broke out of a slump with three hits, but the White Sox were unable to overcome a rare off night for Sale (9-1).
The ace left-hander struck out two in each of the first two innings and then retired the first two batters of the third. But Ramirez followed with a 10-pitch walk, and the game quickly got away from Sale.
Napoli had a two-run triple and Juan Uribe added an RBI single on the ninth pitch of his at-bat, helping Cleveland to a 3-1 lead. After Tomlin (7-0) quickly retired the White Sox in order in the fourth, Gimenez led off the bottom half of the inning with a long drive to left for his second homer and Lindor's one-out RBI single chased Sale from his shortest start of the season.
Sale was charged with six runs after yielding six runs in his previous five starts combined. He walked four after issuing one walk over his previous three starts, including a streak of consecutive complete games without a single free pass coming into Tuesday.
It was more than enough support for Tomlin, who allowed five hits, struck out six and walked one. The right-hander has issued just six walks in 51 innings this season.
RESTING
Indians 2B Jason Kipnis and C Yan Gomes got the day off. Manager Terry Francona said Lindor likely will rest Wednesday.
Gomes is batting .145 (9 for 62) in May.
"We've been playing a lot of baseball and he's been going through some frustrations," Francona said. "I think that doesn't help your energy level. Hopefully, this will be helpful to him."
WORTH NOTING
The White Sox released veteran 1B Travis Ishikawa from his minor league contract. He had been at Triple-A Charlotte.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
