Indians 7, White Sox 1: Swept again

For the first time in their 113-year history, the Cleveland Indians have pulled off three four-game sweeps of one opponent in a single season.

One gets the feeling from watching this series that if you gave them three more four-game sets, they'd go 12-for-12 then, too.

It didn't matter that Chris Sale started the game, nor that he struck out the side in an impressive first inning. The Indians wore him down -- first with a Russ Canzler Matt Carson RBI single in the second, then a Carson opposite-field (!) solo shot in the fifth.

When Nick Swisher roped the first pitch of the sixth inning over the White Sox bullpen for a solo shot of his own, the game got away from Sale. He couldn't finish the sixth, with Asdrubal Cabrera doubling the lead with a three-run shot to really put the game out of reach.

The start of the game was delayed by four hours and 23 minutes due to weather, and the White Sox offense took even longer to come around. Zach McAllister faced the minimum through the first four innings (Marcus Semien singled with two outs in the third, but was caught stealing).

Adam Dunn finally gave the Sox a baserunner that stuck when he drew a walk in the fifth, but the Sox couldn't push a run across the plate until the seventh -- and they needed some help. With runners on first and second and two outs, Josh Phegley hit a sinking liner to center. Drew Stubbs approached it awkwardly, and his sliding catch was unsuccessful, allowing Jeff Keppinger to score to spoil the shutout.

Bullet points:

*Phegley did throw out a runner on Sale's watch, which means opponents are now 17-for-19 when running on Sale this year.

*Dayan Viciedo had a nice day in left field, hitting the cutoff man for an outfield assist in the second inning, and making a sliding catch on a sinking liner to end the fourth. The pitching couldn't blame the defense this time around.

*Semien represented himself well at the plate -- 2-for-3 with three line drives.

Record: 58-91 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights