CHICAGO– Erick Fedde worked six scoreless innings, Tommy Pham had two hits and an RBI and the Chicago White Sox held on to beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-2 on Thursday night.
Chicago won its second straight and fourth time in six games to improve to 10-28. The White Sox no longer have the worst record in the majors, moving ahead of the Colorado Rockies, who are 9-28.
Last-place Chicago is 2-2 against AL Central leader Cleveland.
“We’re playing really well,” Fedde said. “We always felt this team had potential. We had some bad luck with injuries, especially all together, and it was a low point for us.
“But I think the last 12, 13 games we’ve played at least .500 balls and that’s what we hope to be and we just want to grow from that.”
José Ramírez and Josh Naylor launched back-to-back home runs off Chicago reliever John Brebbia with two outs in the eighth inning as Cleveland cut Chicago’s lead to 3–2.
Pham, 36, a double, is batting .313 in 12 games since joining the White Sox.
Andrew Vaughn and Paul DeJong added RBIs for Chicago.
Chicago rookie Bryan Ramos had a single and a double in his sixth game since being recalled from Double-A Birmingham. He is 7-for-18 (.389) in his major league debut season. Eloy Jiménez had two hits, including a double off the wall.
Fedde (3-0) allowed just three singles, walked none and struck out three in the sixth inning. He credited command of a mix of pitches, especially his changeup.
“This team wants to count on me to be a guy they can trust to go deep,” Fedde said. “I want to be that guy and it’s important to do that going forward.”
But the Guardians hit three consecutive singles against the 31-year-old right-hander to open the seventh and load the bases. Jordan Leasure came in and eliminated Bo Naylor and Tyler Freeman. Kyle Manzardo was grounded to end the threat.
“He (Leasure) has electric stuff and when he shows it off it’s great,” Fedde said. “My ERA thanks you very much.”
After Ramirez hit his eighth home run and Naylor scored Brebbia for his tenth in the eighth inning, Michael Kopech came in and got the final four outs for his fourth save.
“Cleveland played good ball this year,” Kopech said. “Our best can beat your best and hopefully we can continue to do that against better and better teams, and dig ourselves out of the hole we built for ourselves and move on to a good season.”
The White Sox hit Cleveland starter Ben Lively (1-2) hard. The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits, including four doubles, in 5 2/3 innings.
“In the first few innings he was struggling with his delivery,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “They were on the hook. They caught him early, but he really adapted.”
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in Pham and Vaughn’s first doubles. Vaughn’s hard line hit the right-center wall and narrowly missed a home run.
DeJong and Pham each drove in singles in the second to increase Chicago’s lead to 3-0.
The Guardians acquired RHP Darren McCaughin from Miami for cash on Thursday, then optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. McCaughin appeared in one game this season for the Marlins, allowing eight runs in 4 2/3 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Guardians: Transferred RHP Gavin Williams (right elbow inflammation) to the 60-day injured list
White Sox: All-Star CF Luis Robert Jr. is about 70 percent recovered in his rehab from a strained right hip flexor, manager Pedro Grifol said. Robert suffered “a small setback” a few days ago in training at the team’s facility in Glendale, Arizona. Grifol expects the speedy hitter, sidelined since April 5, to be “90% running in the next five, seven days” and then move on to baseball activities.
NEXT:
Guardians RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 5.67) faces White Sox LHP Garrett Crochet (2-4, 5.31) on Friday night.
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