Sox Century: June 20, 1917

After a tumultuous 8-6 road trip through Washington, New York and Boston, the White Sox took the longest train ride of the season back to Chicago, where they opened up a homestand against Cleveland after an off day.

They returned to their winning ways in the series opener with a 3-2 victory over the Indians. They scored all their runs in the sixth inning, and a small-ball failure lit the way according to the Chicago Examiner:

A pass to [Nemo] Leibold started the mess. [Buck] Weaver failed in an attempt to bunt, so atoned for it by dropping a single in short left. A double steal then worked and Eddie Collins slammed the ball to deep right center. The waiting runners sailed for home and Eddie for third, but on reaching that station he noticed [Bill] Wamgsganss in the act of fumbling the relay, so the Sox’ captain continued homeward. He arrived safely.

That was the only loud outburst either offense could manufacture. Stan Coveleski shut down the Sox otherwise over seven innings, and he Ed Klepfer combined to allow only four hits and three walks.

Lefty Williams just happened to be a little stingier on the White Sox’ side where it counted. He held the Tribe to four hits and four walks while going the distance, although he survived an unearned run at the very end.

After blowing two late leads to Boston in the doubleheader finale of the road trip, they carried a 3-1 lead into the ninth when once again the defense wobbled. Leibold dropped a one-out fly by Tris Speaker, and the future Hall of Famer took second on the play. After Braggo Roth flied out, Wambsganss shot a double past third base to score Speaker and put the tying run in scoring position, but Lou Giusto popped out to Ray Schalk to preserve the victory.

Meanwhile in New York, the Red Sox and Yankees split a doubleheader, allowing the White Sox to regain half of one of the games they lost at Fenway.

Record: 36-19 | Box score