CLEVELAND — Each of the first five meetings this season between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians were one-run games.
The trend of tight games continued Saturday at Progressive Field.
Colson Montgomery marked the one-year anniversary of his big-league debut by hitting a tiebreaking solo home run in the eighth inning, and the Sox added a run in the ninth for a 3-1 victory in front of 31,727 on the Fourth of July.
“This whole series has felt like a playoff series,” Montgomery said. “But then I look at the calendar and we are not even past All-Star break yet. It’s a good learning experience for down the road.”
Miguel Vargas had one RBI and one run on the day he became a first-time All-Star, helping the Sox (46-42) pull back into a first-place tie with the Guardians (47-43) in the American League Central.
“Every game you play that’s close like this, there’s situations, scenarios where you know you’re going to have to execute and really be challenged to get the job done,” manager Will Venable said. “We’ve seen this series, how close these games are and I think there’s something to learn from each one of these games.”
Although he didn’t factor in the decision, starter Sean Burke provided much-needed length for the Sox. The right-hander allowed one run on seven hits with no walks and a career-high 11 strikeouts in six innings.
“I didn’t know it was that many (strikeouts),” Burke said. “(It’s) getting back to being simple and attacking the zone, getting the two-strike counts. See some of the chase and guys get in between and take some stuff in zone. Putting them on their heels and getting them in bad counts, it will be easier to rack those up.”
The Sox gave Burke a one-run cushion in the first inning when Vargas walked and then scored from first on a Montgomery double.
The Guardians tied the score on an Austin Hedges home run with one out in the fifth. Steven Kwan followed with a triple. But Burke got Travis Bazzana to hit a grounder with the infield in to second baseman Chase Meidroth. The Sox caught Kwan in a rundown between third and home and tagged him out.
Burke then struck out Chase DeLauter to end the inning.
“He just filled up the zone,” Venable said of Burke’s outing. “That was the game plan coming in. Part of beating these guys is limiting walks. Obviously he did that. Knew it was going to be about continuing to pound the zone. If you get ahead, just continue to throw strikes.
“You do that, it comes at a cost, there were some two-strike hits. Totally fine with that. Just want to limit the walks and he did a great job with that.”
Montgomery broke the tie when he led off the eighth with his 22nd home run of the season.
“Today, I felt pretty comfortable at the plate,” Montgomery said. “I was more committed to my plan than most days. I feel like I’ve been pretty inconsistent with my approach and things like that. Today I just felt pretty committed to my plan.”
The Sox received a little breathing room in the ninth when Tristan Peters doubled, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Vargas to make it 3-1.
Brandon Eisert and Grant Taylor pitched well out of the bullpen to secure the win. Eisert struck out two over two perfect innings and was credited with the victory. Taylor struck out one in the ninth on the way to his third save of the season.
“Both really good,” Venable said. “First of all, Eisert was amazing. To get two innings from him there, and quality innings, was huge. We were really, really thin in the pen tonight. It was kind of his job to step up tonight, and he did in a big way.
“And then great to see from Grant, his ability to bounce back after a tough one a couple of days ago (when he surrendered a two-run walk-off home run). He did a great job and was able to close that thing up for us.”
The Sox found a way to bounce back after back-to-back walk-off losses.
“We keep playing well, they keep playing well, it’s going to be a race down to the wire,” Burke said. “It’s good for us after losing two heartbreakers to get in here and pull out one late.”
