White Sox 9, Indians 6: Gillaspie to the rescue

Well, that didn't take long.

With the 9-6 victory over Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox have already matched last season's win total against the Tribe, in large thanks to the most productive offense in Major League Baseball.

Chris Sale earned his third win of the season, but The Condor did have his troubles against Cleveland. Sale tossed a total of 105 pitches in only five innings, and he barely survived hsi final frame. Mike Aviles started the fifth with a leadoff single. After a controversial no-call third strike, Elliot Johnson hit a ground-rule double over Adam Eaton to put runners in scoring position with no outs. Asdrubal Cabrera joined the party by hitting a double of his own to cut the deficit to one run, driving in Aviles and Johnson.

Adding insult to injury, the Indians tied the game up on a single by White Sox fans' mortal enemy, Nick Swisher. Sale would eventually get Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana, and Ryan Rayburn to fly out, but that would be good enough to chase Sale out of the game with a no-decision looming.

Unlike last year, the offense picked up him.

The 2014 edition of the Chicago White Sox have accumulated more runs than any other team in baseball in this young season. It also seems that there is a different hero each game. Yesterday, it was Jose Abreu. Tonight, it was Conor Gillaspie.

In the bottom of the fifth, with runners on first and second, Gillaspie hit a line drive to right field. Johnson's throw to the plate was wide, not allowing Yan Gomes to quickly turn around and tag out Eaton, who was sliding headfirst into home. A better throw may have allowed Gomes to take a better position bring up the sticky collision ruling, but either way, it was a fantastic slide by Eaton.

Eaton's grindy play continued in the sixth, with his two-out bunt single. Marcus Semien followed with a single to left field past the outstretched shortstop Cabrera. Once again Gillaspie delivered, with his double down the left field line giving the Sox a lead they would never relinquish. He finished the night going 2-for-3 with four RBI.

Finally,  Alexei Ramirez deserves some love as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI, tying Frank Thomas for the longest hitting streak to start the year in franchise history at 11 games.

The Sox and Indians play tomorrow with the first pitch scheduled at 1:10 pm CST.

Bullet Points:

• Chris Sale leads all of baseball in wins with three.
• Jose Abreu went 0-for-4, but drew his league-leading third intentional walk. He is also tied for the league lead in RBI.
• Ramirez leads the AL in batting average at .429
• Eaton leads the AL in runs with 12.