White Sox 2, Indians 1: Walking off a series winner

Traditional followed-from-work bullet-point recap:

*The White Sox took three of four from the Indians, and Carlos Sanchez sealed this one by muscling a high Bryan Shaw fastball into shallow right for the walk-off single. Leury Garcia scored the winning run, and also set it up by stealing second after pinch-running for Omar Narvaez, who singled.

*James Shields didn’t get the win, but he was deserving of one. He held the Indians to one run over six innings for his second straight quality start (and three out of his last four). The peripherals are starting to show run-preventing qualities, as he struck out eight while allowing the Indians to three hits, three walks and an HBP.

*The diminished control is either troubling, or what he needs to survive, but it helped the Indians score their only run regardless. Two wild pitches allowed Michael Martinez to go from first to third after a one-out single, and he scored on Jose Ramirez’s sac fly.

*Jose Abreu got the run back by hammering a 2-2 Mike Clevinger fastball out out to left for a solo shot, his 24th homer of the season.

*Otherwise, scoring opportunities were few and far between. Naravez popped out with the bases loaded to end the first, but they only had four at-bats with runners in scoring position afterwards (Sanchez’s single was the only hit).

*The Indians created more jams for Shields, but they went hitless in seven at-bats. They also botched a golden opportunity against David Robertson in the ninth. With one out, Abraham Almonte stole second and moved to third when Narvaez’s throw bounced into center field. Robertson struck out Francisco Lindor, didn’t give Rajai Davis anything to hit, then struck out Coco Crisp to strand runners on second and third.

*Robertson picked up the win for his scoreless ninth, after Nate Jones posted a zero in the eighth and Dan Jennings stranded Chris Beck’s two-out walk in the seventh.

Record: 71-75 | Box score | Highlights