Poor Defense Costs White Sox in Loss to Indians

Edwin Encarnacion homered and had four RBIs, and the Cleveland Indians took advantage of Chicago's leaky defense to score five times in the fifth inning, beating the White Sox 9-6 on Monday.

Encarnacion tied the game in the fifth with a three-run bloop double. Yonder Alonso's double drove in the go-ahead run later in the inning and Encarnacion hit a leadoff homer in the seventh.

Cleveland trailed 5-2 going into the fifth, but errors by catcher Alfredo Gonzalez, shortstop Tim Anderson and second baseman Yoan Moncada made three of the runs unearned.

Adam Plutko (3-0) allowed five runs in five innings and has won all three of his starts this season. Tyler Olson, Evan Marshall and Neil Ramirez combined to pitch three shutout innings. Ben Taylor allowed a run in the ninth.

Chris Volstad (0-3) gave up Encarnacion's double, the only batter he faced.

Chicago's poor pitching and defense spoiled a memorable major league debut for Matt Skole, who homered and singled.

Cleveland rallied three times late in Sunday's game to beat Houston 10-9 in 14 innings.

The Indians received a boost from Chicago's defense in Monday's comeback.

The White Sox committed two errors with Yan Gomes batting in the fifth. Gonzalez dropped a foul popup in front of the White Sox's dugout. Anderson fielded Gomes' grounder at shortstop, but his throw to first was in the dirt for another error.

The Indians loaded the bases on a force play, a single and a walk, ending starter Dylan Covey's day. Luis Avilan retired Jose Ramirez on a popup.

Volstad entered the game but right fielder Daniel Palka, shaded toward right-center, couldn't make a sliding catch of Encarnacion's fly ball that landed near the foul line.

Jace Fry faced Alonso, who doubled to center for a 6-5 lead. Moncada booted Melky Cabrera's ground ball to score another run.

Cleveland scored five times in the ninth to force extra innings and once in the 13th to tie the game again. Greg Allen hit a leadoff homer in the 14th.

Skole, called up from Triple-A Charlotte before the game, started a two-run rally in the second with a single. The left-handed hitting first baseman homered in the fourth, a 418-foot shot into the right-field seats.

Skole, 28, signed as a minor league free agent with the White Sox in January after spending seven seasons in the Washington Nationals organization. He was called up when Matt Davidson went on the 10-day DL with back spasms.

Anderson followed Skole with a homer in the fourth.

Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a first-inning single and Francisco Lindor had three hits.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us