CLEVELAND, Ohio – Jose Ramirez scored the third-straight run on a squeeze from Delino DeShields Jr. in the 10th inning, and Mike Freeman added an RBI single that proved to be the game-winner Sunday in a 5-4 Cleveland Indians victory over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Ramirez, the Cleveland automatic runner on second base to start the 10th, moved to third on an infield hit by Carlos Santana and dove across the plate to score ahead of James McCann’s sweep tag when DeShields a bunt the first baseline pushed up. After Deshields retired on the selection of a field player by Domingo Santana, Freeman delivered a two-out RBI single to center that Carlos Santana scored for a two-run Cleveland advantage.
DeShields said afterward that he is comfortable playing “small ball” in a situation where the club needs to get a run across the board.
“It’s been a part of my game since I started playing professional baseball,” DeShields said. “Sometimes it’s what it takes to go to a rally or get a run. I know they are aware of it, but with Jose on third base, it just seemed like the perfect play.”
Closer Brad Hand left an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th on a blob-based hit in midfield by McCann cutting Cleveland’s lead in half. But Hand did not return to the mound after a 50-minute rain delay with one out in the bottom of the inning. Oliver Perez took over after the delay and took Leury Garcia retired on a pop to second base and knocked out Yoan Moncada for the fifth saving of his career and first this season.
Acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said the decision to start over with Perez came at matchups.
“It was part of the lineup that presented a better matchup for him, and boys turned to the right,” Alomar said. ‘Oliver throws the strike. We talked about it and Carl (Willis) said, ‘He’s a perfect match,’ so we went with him. ‘
Cleveland tied the score at eighth on a two-out RBI double by Franmil Reyes of Chicago reliever Evan Marshall. Marshall worked in relief from starter Lucas Giolito, who kept Indian hitters after a few runs over seven innings on just four base hits. Reyes now has eight hits in his last six games including a few home runs and seven RBIs after just hitting .171 in his first 10 starts of the season.
“He’s putting in better bats, he hasn’t collapsed that much,” Alomar said of Reyes. “If he tries to make too much, the hind leg collapses and he is tied to the front. He has worked very hard. ”
The Indians gave starter Shane Bieber just enough run support to win his first three starts, but could not miss early enough for a fourth victory despite another quality effort by the 25-year-old judge. Bieber knocked out eight White Sox hunters and ran two in six innings. He left three runs on five hits and let the game follow through with one run.
Beiber said he experienced “ups and downs” throughout the game, but was able to find a rhythm toward the middle of his outing.
“Towards the end of the sixth inning, I got kind of rhythm in terms of both pitch sequencing and my delivery, and that made things a little harder,” Bieber said. “I have made some mistakes where they are capitalized … There is a lot to work on, a lot to improve as you go to the next outing.”
Bieber’s eight strikeouts gave him 43 on the season, the most matched by an Indian pitcher in the first four games of a year since 1901 when Cy Falkenberg also hit 43.
McCann’s sixth straight homer tied the score at 2-2 and was the fourth solo shot that Bieber delivered in four outings. Bieber then knocked out Danny Mendick and Leury Garcia, but ran Moncada before Yasmani Grandal hit a line-drive RBI double to the wall in the center to give Chicago a one-run advantage.
Cleveland had ridden for a few runs in the third behind an RBI double from Cesar Hernandez and an RBI single from Ramirez. Hernandez has reached a base in all 16 games in which he has played for the Indians and Ramirez has ridden in runs in four of his last six games, bringing his average to .357 with rounds in scoring position.
Jose Abreu put Chicago ahead 1-0 in the second inning with a solo home run against Bieber. It was Abreu’s third career home game against Bieber.
The Cleveland pitchers, meanwhile, continued their dominant start to the season. The Indians have allowed four runs or less in 17 straight games to start the year. Per Elias Sports Bureau, which is the second-longest stretch in MLB history behind the 1981 Oakland Athletics (21).
The Indians received scoreless reliefs from Nick Wittgren, James Karinchak and Phil Maton prior to the unearned run that Hand allowed in the 10th. The Cleveland rotation has yielded 15 quality starts in the first 17 games of the season. That’s the most for a Cleveland staff through 17 games since 1991. Indian pitchers have also recorded bilingual strikeouts in 10 of 17 games.
Next: The Indians return to Cleveland on Monday for the opening of a two-game series at Progressive Field against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. Right-hander Mike Clevinger (1-1, 3.24 ERA) will start the opener against left-back Jon Lester of Chicago (1-0, 0.82). Initial pitch is set for 7:10 a.m. and the game will air on SportsTime Ohio, WTAM 1100 AM and WMMS 100.7 FM.
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