Indians 7, White Sox 3: Another abbreviated start

Both starters left plenty of balls over the plate. Both teams took advantage.

The Indians, however, found ways to hit more balls harder.

A massive Edwin Encarnacion homer gave the Indians the lead and sent Miguel Gonzalez packing before he could close out the fifth inning, and then they gave Jake Petricka a rude welcome back to the big leagues with another series of missiles. As a result, the White Sox are now 1-6 on this road trip.

The White Sox were game against Corey Kluber, who struck out eight over six innings but had his hangers. The Sox manufactured a two-run third to take a 2-1 lead. Adam Engel singled, stole second with one out and scored on a Melky Cabrera single. Cabrera moved to second on the throw, but when he tried taking another 180 feet after an Avisail Garcia single, Bradley Zimmer cut him down with a perfect throw for the second out. No matter -- Todd Frazier jumped on a get-me-over cutter for a first-pitch RBI single for the Sox’ first lead of the game.

After Miguel Gonzalez issued a pair of walks — the second of which brought in a run — to tie the game in the fourth, the Sox manufactured another run with a Leury Garcia leadoff double, a Cabrera groundout and a Jose Abreu sac fly.

But Gonzalez couldn’t hold that lead either, and in a most disappointing fashion. Just when he appeared to be on the cusp of a 1-2-3 inning, he instead issued a four-pitch walk to Carlos Santana, then yielded a 430-foot homer to center that gave the Indians a lead they maintained the rest of the way.

The Sox had their best chance to climb back in it against Andrew Miller of all people. Engel led off with a single and took second on a sac bunt. That’s when Miller decided to stop allowing balls in play. He struck out Cabrera on a foul tip, drilled Abreu on the kneecap with a hard slider, forcing the first baseman to leave the game, and then struck out Avisail Garcia with four sliders to end the threat.

Miller then came back for a 1-2-3 eighth, setting up the game for Cody Allen. It wasn’t a save situation, because Jake Petricka gave up hits to the first four batters he faced to allow three more runs. Zimmer also hit a line drive, but into an unassisted double play to get Petricka his first two outs in his second outing of the season.

Bullet points:

*Engel was optioned to Charlotte after the game, presumably to make room for the recently acquired Alen Hanson. Engel went out on a high note, going 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base.

*Dan Jennings turned in his second straight strong stretched-out outing, throwing 2¹⁄₃ perfect innings before Petricka gave up the ground.

Record: 25-34 | Box score | Highlights