(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH -- Chicago was sitting on 3-1 lead in the 8th inning, when the White Sox bullpen completely imploded. Hanley Ramirez cut the Chicago lead to one, on a play that should had been ruled a base hit, but was instead ruled an error. Hanley hit a line drive past the second basemen as he laid out for the ball and the baseball tipped off of his glove. This error led to the bases being loaded, as Max Moroff walked into the batter's box. Moroff then ripped a single to left field, as Bauers scored to tie the game at 3. With the bases loaded, both Roberto Perez and Greg Allen forced a walk, as the tribe jumped out to a 5-3 lead. Brad Hand came in to shut things down in the 9th inning, and he did just that, as the Indians defeat the White Sox by the final score of 5-3, and Hand earned his second save of the season.
Mike Clevinger struck out the side in the first inning to get the home opener started, and he rode that adrenaline through the rest of the game. Clevinger went a full 7 innings, earning his career-best 12 strikeouts, only giving up 1 hit. Oliver Perez came out of the bullpen for the tribe and gave up one hit and one run, as he was unable to record an out. Carlos Santana continued his hot batting today, as he got the tribe on the board in the 6th inning on a 2-out RBI single.
The tribe will have an off day tomorrow, and will get back to baseball on Wednesday April 3rd, when they will take on the Chicago White Sox for the 2nd game of the 2-game series. Corey Kluber will get the ball for the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox will give Carlos Rodon the nod. First pitch is set for 1:10 PM ET at beautiful Progressive Field.