The Cleveland Baseball Club defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-4 in extras thanks to a clutch squeeze bunt from Delino DeShields.
Cleveland desperately needed to pull off a win against Chicago Sunday night.
Shane Bieber got the start for Cleveland and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Bieber allowed 2 solo home runs (Jose Abreu, James McCann). A Yasmani Grandal double in the 6th would be the last run of the game that Bieber allowed.
Cleveland’s offense struggled for the most part, only managing 7 hits, but the team kept up their impressive walk rate with 6 more to add to their total.
Cesar Hernandez drove in Cleveland’s first run with an RBI double in the 3rd inning. Jose Ramirez temporarily gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead with on a single that drove in Sandy Leon. Cleveland would not score again until the 8th when Franmil Reyes drove a ball to the left center field gap which scored Ramirez.
After 9 innings the game was all square and that is when things got interesting.
With 1 out in the inning with Jose Ramirez on third and Carlos Santana on first Delino DeShields came up to bat. DeShields laid down a perfect bunt for a squeeze play that would score Ramirez giving Cleveland a 4-3 lead.
With two outs Mike Freeman would drive in Santana to make it 5-3 Cleveland.
Brad Hand would come on for the save and things got a bit dicey. A run came around to score on a James McCann single and Hand would proceed to walk Danny Mendick. A downpour ensued and Hand was barely able to grip the ball, eventually leading to a rain delay.
Approximately 45 minutes later the game resumed and Oliver Perez came on for the save. Perez was able to get the final two outs of the game on six pitches and notched his 5th career save securing a 5-4 win for Cleveland.
Cleveland has an off day Monday and will resume play at home Tuesday when they will face the Chicago Cubs.
