(Photo by: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO -- Another spectacular outing from an Indians starting pitcher, this time from Zach Plesac as he pitched six shutout innings, striking out seven and the offense backed Plesac up today as they put up six runs in the 4th inning behind 2 run home runs from Franmil Reyes and Jordan Luplow to beat the White Sox today by a score of 7-1.
The scoring started in the 4th inning with a Cesar Hernandez walk, then Francisco Lindor hit a double to put them both in scoring position with one out. With both men on, Drew Anderson uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Hernandez to score the first run for the Indians. On a 3-1 count, the ball got by Yasmani Grandal and Lindor came running home after that to make the score 2-0.
The scoring continued when Franmil Reyes stepped to the plate and launched a 421 foot home run to center field, his 2nd of the season, to extend the lead to 4-0,
The fourth inning kept on rolling for the Indians two batters later when Jordan Luplow came up to the plate to record his first hit of the season, and what a great first hit it was, as he homered for the first time of the year to give the Indians a 6-0 lead.
The Indians added another run in the 8th when Domingo Santana hit his first home run as a member of the Indians, a 454 foot blast to left to extend the Indians lead to 7-0. The White Sox added a run in the bottom of the eighth on a Yoan Moncada solo homer to right to make the game a 7-1 affair.
The Indians continued their dominance in the pitching department as Zach Plesac recorded six shutout innings, allowing only five hits, while striking out seven to add another quality start, the teams 14th in 16 games this season. The bullpen combo of Adam Cimber, Cam Hill, and Phil Maton pitched three innings, allowing only two and one run, while striking out 4 to wrap up the win for the Indians.
The Indians improved to 9-7 on the year and the White Sox fell to 8-7 on the season.
The teams wrap up their three game series on Sunday night at 7:10 PM as Shane Bieber (3-0, 0.83 ERA) looks to continue his fantastic start to the season and he will be opposed by Lucas Giolito (1-1, 5.17 ERA). Our coverage starts at 6 with the Ken Ganley Kia Tribe Insider with Dennis Manoloff, you can hear all the action on 1100 AM or on the iHeartRadio App.
POSTGAME NOTES (courtesy of Bart Swain)
+Indians pitching has now allowed 4-or-fewer runs in all 16 games this year, the second-longest stretch to start a season in MLB history surpassing the 2005 Florida Marlins (15G), behind the 1981 Oakland Athletics who accomplished the feat in 21 games to start the season (Elias)…longest streak to start a year in franchise history.
+The Tribe rotation has tallied 14 quality starts in the first 16 games of the season, the most out of the gate by a Cleveland squad since 1991 rotation also turned in 14 QS in the first 16 games of the year…Cleveland pitching has turned in double-digit SO games in 9 of 16 games this year, becoming just the fourth Tribe team since 1901 to have at least 10+ SO in 9 of the first 16 games of the year (10G: 2015, 9G: 2020, 2019, 2014).
+Zach Plesac earned his first win of the year, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings while striking out 7 (5H, 1BB)…has turned in three consecutive quality starts to start the season, including two scoreless outings…has never put together 3+ consecutive quality starts in his young career…in two starts against Chicago-AL this season, Plesac has worked 14.0 scoreless innings, tallying 18 strikeouts (1BB, 6H).
+According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Domingo Santana connected for his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the top of the 8th that traveled 454 feet at 110.9mph…marked the 2nd-hardest and 2nd-longest HR of his career (hardest-hit and longest: 476 ft, 113.7mph on July 26, 2017).
+Jordan Luplow snapped an 0-for-21 with his first home run of the year, a 2-run shot in the top of the 4th inning…came two batters after Franmil Reyes also launched a 2-run shot, his second home run of the season…marked the first time this season the Tribe have had multiple home runs in an inning (last: Sept. 28, 2019 @ WAS T4)…Luplow has 6 home runs in 15 career games against CWS and all 4 of his career hits in Chicago (4-for-22) have been home runs.
+Cesar Hernandez (BB) has reached base in all 15 games in a Cleveland uniform and has an active on-base streak of 19 games dating back to 2019 (was T3rd-longest active streak in MLB entering today).