White Sox 4, Indians 3: Sox survive more David Robertson wobbles

Just got back from the office, so here's your delayed bullet-point recap:

*David Robertson entered the game with a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning, and ended it by picking off the tying run at first base. It was another rough outing for Robertson. He started the inning with a swinging strikeout on a curveball, but his second such attempt went for a double to left by Yan Gomes. Chris Johnson then crushed a full-count cutter way out to center to make it a one-run game.

Abraham Almonte kept the pressure on by nearly decapitating Robertson on a single to center. Then, after Jerry Sands flied out for the second out, Almonte alleviated the pressure by getting picked off by Robertson to end the game.

*Robertson saved his 30th game, but his ERA rose for the third consecutive outing (combined line: 3 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K). It was at 2.44, and now it's 3.39.

*Unlike John Danks and Jose Quintana before him, Carlos Rodon did get the victory he deserved despite Robertson's struggles. He came back from his skipped start pitching 7⅔ innings of under-control baseball, allowing just a run on six hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out four. He threw 65 of 103 pitches for strikes.

*Rodon worked out of early trouble in the first inning by stranding Jason Kipnis at third after his leadoff double. He benefited from a sac bunt, induced a groundout, and after a Ryan Raburn HBP (probably a good call),  struck out Carlos Santana on a beautiful backfoot slider to escape the first unscored upon.

*The Sox didn't get their first hit off Carlos Carrasco until Adam Eaton led off the fourth with a single. He then took third when Francisco Lindor's feed on a potential double-play ball took Kipnis into the path of the runner and into right field, and scored on Melky Cabrera's sac fly for the game's first run.

*The Indians tied it up in the bottom of the inning. Raburn led off with a single (see?). Santana moved him to third on a double off the wall, and Gomes pushed Cleveland's first run across with a sac fly to right. Santana advanced to third, but Rodon stranded him there with a groundout and a popout, both to Jose Abreu. (Micah Johnson once again ran into the guy who called for and caught the popup.)

*The Sox took the lead for good in the fifth, thanks in part to more Cleveland sloppiness. The bats started it -- Rob Brantly drew a walk, and Avisail Garcia rifled a single to center. But they both moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, Brantly scored on Johnson's bloop single to left, and Garcia scored when Lindor fumbled the exchange on a potential 1-6-3 double play (Johnson made the good kind of contact by uprooting Lindor with the slide).

*The Sox needed two shots to score an insurance run. One potential run was taken off the board in the sixth when Trayce Thompson ran into Lindor on a grounder to short. He was on second and Melky Cabrera was on third when Brantly hit a weak grounder to short. Thompson broke for third as Lindor broke for the ball, and they ran into each other a couple steps into their respective paths.

*They got the job done in the eighth. Thompson led off with a walk, and avoided running into any Cleveland fielders as he scored from first on Brantly's ringing double off the left-field wall. A three-run lead certainly seemed like a comfortable margin after Matt Albers struck out Lonnie Chisenhall to end the eighth and close the book on Rodon's night, but Robertson had other ideas.

*Terry Francona truly indulged himself in September luxury. He used eight pitchers, even with Carrasco lasting five-plus, while Robin Ventura only used three.

Record: 70-77 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights