White Sox pitchers got to face Cleveland's B-team.
White Sox hitters couldn't stay the same.
Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen combined to strike out 15 White Sox over a four-hitter. Kluber contributed seven innings and 15 strikeouts to the cause, picking up his 20th victory and lowering his ERA to 2.83 for his effort.
Dylan Covey's six shutout innings went to waste. Granted, he faced a lineup missing Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis. The Indians played extra innings in Boston the night before, so Terry Francona gave them all a rest in what a meaningless game for everybody but Kluber.
Regardless, Covey throwing six shutout innings in consecutive starts against the same team is impressive, especially considering he has started against Cleveland in every series this season. He scattered six hits while striking out seven, working around a couple of threats by missing bats. He froze a runner at third with one out in the second by getting a groundout and a strikeout, and he nullified a pair of inning-opening singles in the fourth with a strikeout and a double play.
Covey at least avoided his 14th defeat on the season. Instead, the loss went to Ian Hamilton, who gave up a solo shot to Brandon Guyer in the seventh. He almost surrendered back-to-back shots, but after coming up short on his leaping attempt on Guyer's fly, Daniel Palka came down with Erik Gonzalez' drive for robbery on his second try.
Nate Jones couldn't keep it a one-run game. He gave up Adam Rosales' first-homer of the season to make it a 2-0 game followed by four consecutive hits that chased him from the game.
Bullet points:
*The Sox were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. All three of the outs were K's.
*Nicky Delmonico gets a gold star for contributing half of the Sox' hits and none of their strikeouts.
*Tim Anderson almost pulled off the defensive play of the month with a ranging play up the middle and a spinning on-target throw so good, it surprised Matt Davidson, who wasn't standing on first base for some reason.
Record: 61-95 | Box score
