Indians Slam White Sox and Sale 12-1 Behind Santana’s Grand Slam

By Adrienne Goehler

CLEVELAND – The Indians looked like they were on a carousel out on the bases tonight as they dominated the White Sox in a 12-1 victory.

The Tribe set themselves up for success early on going up 6-0 in the third.

It all started when Roberto Perez singled to center, and what should have been a double play ball hit by Jose Ramirez elongated the inning after an error from Carlos Sanchez at second.

With two outs, Mike Aviles dropped a ball in shallow center and Perez scored. Michael Brantley followed with a single to left to put the Tribe up 2-0, and Ryan Raburn drew a walk to load up the bases for Carlos Santana, who belted one out to the left field bleachers to put the Tribe ahead 6-0. All were unearned runs for Chris Sale.

“We caught a break on the ball to second,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Then we took advantage of it.”

“Leading up to that, Mikey [Aviles] flipped one in the outfield for a hit then Brantley with just a nice piece of hitting. We got on the scoreboard, which is nice, and then for Carlos to do that to kind of separate the game a little, especially against that guy pitching, he’s so good. We took advantage of the mistake but we did a lot of good things.”

The White Sox finally got on the board in the fifth with a solo shot from the designated hitter Melky Cabrera cutting the Indians lead 6-1.

Francisco Lindor went yard in the seventh, sending a ball over the right field fence putting the Tribe up 7-1.

More trouble came for the White Sox in the eighth when Daniel Webb relieved Sale, who found the bases loaded after Perez singled, Ramirez walked, and Lindor singled. Once again, Aviles singled to left, scoring Perez.

That would be the end of Webb’s night and Dan Jennings would take over, but didn’t fare any better. Brantley reached on an infield single, putting the Indians up 9-1, then Lonnie Chisenhall drew a bases loaded walk to put them up 10-1. Chris Johnson’s single to right would knock in the final two runs of the evening with a final score 12-1.

The Indians are once again .500 on the year at 73-73, and are still in the conversation for the second wild card spot, now just two out in the loss column. Tonight’s winning pitcher Cody Anderson improved his record to 5-4 on the year with a 3.48 ERA, and Sale takes the loss.

Tomorrow’s matchup:
RHP Carlos Carrasco (13-10, 3.62 ERA) vs LHP Carlos Rodon (7-6, 3.94 ERA)