Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger homered in a six-run fifth inning that helped the Chicago White Sox earn an 8-3 win against the visiting Cleveland Guardians in the opener of their three-game series on Tuesday night.
Yasmani Grandal had three hits and Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Andrew Vaughn, Hanser Alberto and Burger each had two hits for the White Sox, who had lost four of five.
White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn (2-5) allowed three runs, one earned, and seven hits in seven-plus innings. He finished with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Guardians starter Shane Bieber (3-2) was tagged for six runs, five earned, and a career-high 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Will Brennan had two hits, Steven Kwan had two RBIs and Myles Straw scored two runs for Cleveland, which failed in a bid to win three in a row for the first time since a four-game streak from March 31-April 3.
Bieber scattered seven singles in the early innings but the game was still scoreless with two outs in the fifth when Luis Robert Jr. reached on catcher’s interference after swinging and missing on a two-strike pitch.
Robert scored from first on a single by Moncada for a 1-0 lead. After a line-drive single by Vaughn, Sheets lifted a 1-1 pitch deep over the fence in right-center field for a 4-0 lead.
Grandal followed with his third hit of the game, and Burger then lined an opposite-field homer just inside the right field foul pole for a 6-0 lead.
The Guardians got a run back in the sixth on a leadoff triple by Straw and a sacrifice fly from Kwan.
Moncada and Vaughn delivered back-to-back two-out doubles in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-1.
Straw reached on an error to start the eighth and scored on a double by Kwan to make it 7-2 and end the night for Lynn.
Kwan eventually came home on a two-out infield single by Josh Bell to trim the deficit to 7-3.
In the ninth, Robert homered for the fourth straight game to make it 8-3.
–Field Level Media