With the possibility of a sweep within the Sox's grasp, they were not about to let the chance slip between their fingers.  The only sweeps that the Sox have completed this year so far were a 2 game sweep of the Seattle Mariners (the first game was postponed due to rain) on April 28th and 29th and a 3 game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on May 29th-May 31st.  The Sox came to Progressive Field ready to seal the deal on the poorly playing Indians and they succeeded, and have now won 9 out of the last 11.

With Jose Contreras pitching as well as ever, he was one the one sent to the mound tonight against Jeremy Sowers, and pitched just like he has since that trip down to the minors.  He held the Cleveland Indians to 2 earned runs on 5 hits while striking out 8 and walking 1 in 8.0 innings.

The Indians offense drew first blood (unlike the last 2 nights where the Sox scored first) in the 3rd.  It started with a single to right field by Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco moved him over to third when he hit a double to left field.  Contreras helped himself by striking out Asdrubal Cabrera for his 3rd of the night.  Unfortunately, he couldn't send down Grady Sizemore like he had in the 1st.  Sizemore grounded out to second where the Sox traded the out for the run and sent him down.  Contreras prevented any more damage by getting Martinez to fly out to left center.

The Sox's offense finally came to life in the 5th, where they plated one.  The inning led off with with Nix flying out to deep right and Beckham getting his first hit of the night when he smacked a 3-2 fastball to deep center.  Anderson was able to help out and just grounded out to shortstop.  Podsednik helped the team by singling to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.  Alexei Ramirez came through in the clutch and crushed the ball to right field to drive in Gordon Beckham, but was tagged out at second when he tried to stretch a single to a double.

The Sox continued with their hot bats in the 6th.  Dye began the inning but failing to get on base by flying out to right center, but Thome and Konerko both singled to center and right, respectively.  Castro came up and hit on the first pitch fastball from Sowers and was able to just push it over the right field wall for a 3-run home run to put the Sox up 4-1.  It didn't stop there when Jayson Nix doubled on a sharp ground ball down the left field line.  Gordon Beckham kept his hot bat going when he singled to left field.  Beckham ended the series going 8 for 11 with 1 double, 1 HR, and 5 RBI's.  The inning ended with Brian Anderson grounding into a double play.  Cleveland responded by plating their last run of the night when Victor Martinez hit a 2-out double to left field and Shin-Soo Choo drove him in with a double to left.

The Sox scored for the last time in the 7th when Jose Veras replaced Jeremy Sowers.  Podsednik started out with a ground out to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.  Alexei Ramirez then hit a pop up past Cabrera that was just out of his reach and Alexei Ramirez was able to reach first.  Ramirez stole 2nd base for his 12th this year with Jermaine Dye batting.  Jermaine Dye popped out to shortstop Cabrera for the 2nd out.  Rafael Perez came into the game to replace Jose Veras.  Thome drew a walk from Perez to make it runners on 1st and 2nd, with 2 outs.  Joe Smith replaced Rafael Perez still with 2 outs.  Konerko faced Smith and doubled to right field to drive in Ramirez and Thome, but Thome was tagged out at home for the third out.

In the 8th, Alexei Ramirez left the game due to an injury to his right hand.  Chris Getz took over at 2nd base and Jayson Nix took over at shortstop.

In the 9th, Matt Thornton relieved Jose Contreras and blew threw the 9th by striking out Choo and getting Peralta to ground out to shortstop Jayson Nix.  Thornton then walked Travis Hafner but ended the game on a great note by striking out Ryan Garko on a 2-2 fastball.

The Sox will now to Kansas City to take on the Royals (33-44) for a 4 game series.  In the opener, the Sox will be sending Mark Buehrle (7-2; 3.26 ERA) to face Bruce Chen (0-1; 5.68 ERA).  Hopefully the Sox can continue this 5 game win streak and keep the W's up on the board.  An update an Alexei Ramirez's injury will be posted when more has been revealed.