Tomlin outpitches Sale as Indians defeat White Sox
CHICAGO -- Chris Sale had his first off night of the season and the Cleveland Indians made the Chicago White Sox pay for it Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Cleveland scored a combined six runs between the third and fourth innings, all charged to Sale, and defeated the White Sox 6-2 to pull within 1 1/2 games of Chicago for the top spot in the American League Central
Indians starter Josh Tomlin (7-0) stayed perfect by allowing just two runs in eight innings to out-pitch Sale (9-1), who took his first loss of the season. Tomlin allowed a home run to Adam Eaton on his second pitch of the game, but yielded just one more run for his career-high seventh straight win.
Francisco Lindor went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, Mike Napoli went 2-for-4 with a two-run triple and Chris Gimenez went 2-for-4 with a home run to lead Cleveland offensively.
Eaton went 2-for-4 with the homer and Jose Abreu went 3-for-4 with two doubles to lead the White Sox (27-20). Abreu came into the game hitting just .100 (2-for-20) in his past five games, but his breakout performance wasn't enough to overcome Sale's tough night.
Sale, who threw 89 pitches in his 3 1/3 innings, was attempting to become the eighth player in major-league history to win his first 10 starts of a season. Andy Hawkins, who did it in 1985, is the most recent player who accomplished the feat and the previous seven all did it before 1920.
Sale finished with seven strikeouts, which moved him past Ted Lyons for sole possession of eighth in White Sox history (1,080), but the loss ended the left-hander's career-high 10-game win streak that stretched back to last season.
Trailing 1-0 after Eaton led off the White Sox's first with a home run, the Indians got to Sale for three runs in the third and fourth to lead, 6-1.
The third played the biggest role in Sale's undoing. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks and threw 43 pitches after retiring the first two hitters on just five pitches. By the time the inning ended, 38 pitches later, Sale had thrown the most pitches in an inning in his major-league career, putting him at 70 to that point.
He threw 19 more in the fourth, including one Gimenez hit for a long lead-off homer. Sale was replaced by right-hander Zach Putnam after allowing two more walks and an RBI single by Lindor.
Sale left the field to a round of applause from White Sox fans, who saluted him for his previous nine outings.
Chicago got one run back in its half of the fourth to make it 6-2 on back-to-back doubles by Abreu and Brett Lawrie, but Tomlin escaped when two base-running gaffes on Avisail Garcia's ground ball to shortstop led to an inning-ending double play.
NOTES: Cleveland 2B Jason Kipnis wasn't in the starting lineup, but manager Terry Francona said it was a scheduled day off with the White Sox starting ace LHP Chris Sale. Francona said SS Francisco Lindor is scheduled to get a day off Wednesday in the series finale for the same reason, with LHP Jose Quintana starting for Chicago. ... Francona also gave a day off to starting C Yan Gomes, who has been struggling at the plate recently. Backup catcher Chris Gimenez started in his place. ... The Indians optioned RHP Cody Anderson back to Triple-A Columbus after he started the second game of a doubleheader on Monday and picked up the win. ... Sale is one of just three pitchers since 1913 to win his first nine starts of a season with a 1.58 ERA or lower, joining Eddie Cicotte and Sal Maglie. ... According to Elias Sports Bureau, the pitching matchup of Sale (9-0) and Indians RHP Josh Tomlin (6-0) was just the fourth in major-league history between pitchers who were each 6-0 or better.