White Sox 2, Indians 1 (10 innings): Carlos Sanchez single decides stalemate between aces

The White Sox have faced Corey Kluber twice this season, and they've beat him both times -- once when he was off his game, and tonight, when he looked his best.

Coming off an 18-strikeout masterpiece, Kluber was again dominant, striking out 12 Sox over nine innings. But the Sox were able to extend the game to a 10th inning, where Zach McAllister allowed the first two men to reach, giving the Sox three chances at walk-off glory. After Alexei Ramirez popped out and Geovany Soto struck out, Carlos Sanchez slashed 0-2 fastball just inside the left-field line -- and just out of the reach of a diving Zach Walters -- to win it.

The Sox won their sixth straight, pushing them over .500 for the first time all season.

On the other side, Cleveland wore another demoralizing loss. It has to hurt the Indians, because Kluber outpitched Chris Sale ...

• Kluber: 9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 84 game score
• Sale: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 75 games core

... but not enough to count. In fact, this matchup really lived up to the billing.

Sale leaked first, allowing a leadoff double to score on a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly in the third inning. And with Kluber striking out the first five hitters he faced and not allowing a hit until Melky Cabrera's fourth-inning single, it looked like one run might be enough.

It took some derring-do on the part of Adam Eaton to even the score. He tripled with one out, but it ran the risk of going wasted when Cabrera struck out. Eaton, on the alert of a #WILDPITCHOFFENSE opportunity, perhaps was a little too eager when Roberto Perez blocked Kluber's curve in the dirt. But Eaton saw enough daylight to make a break, and while Perez beat Eaton to the plate, he didn't secure the ball well enough. It squirted loose, Eaton's hand brushed over the plate, and a play that was crazy enough to work tied the game at 1.

Sale, who was behind Kluber in terms of efficiency, tightened up his game to last eight innings by retiring the last 10 he faced. David Robertson and Zach Duke extended that run to 16 in a row with a pair of 1-2-3 innings. Duke, who wore the "L" in the White Sox' last loss, now picks up the win to even his personal record while helping the Sox extend their streak to six.

Bullet points:

*The Sox once again played errorless ball, with a nice running catch by Cabrera, a charging play by Conor Gillaspie and a leaping grab by Ramirez serving as highlights.

*Avisail Garcia left in the 10th inning after drawing a leadoff walk. It appeared to be a tweaked back, and J.B. Shuck pinch-ran for him, scoring the winning run.

Update: Turns out it's his knee:

Robin Ventura said Avi Garcia felt something in his knee, inflammation. Put Shuck in w/abundance of caution, make sure guy on 1st could run.

— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) May 19, 2015

Record: 18-17 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights