White Sox feeling good after winning fifth straight
They won three in a row against a Royals team that lost 104 games last season.
And the Chicago White Sox are now playing the Indians, who look like a shell of the team that finished first in the AL Central the last three years.
Don't look for any apologies from the Sox, who haven't has a winning record since 2012 and haven't sniffed the playoffs since 2008.
Something good is finally starting to happen on the South Side, and it continued Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"We're playing pretty good baseball," Yonder Alonso said after the White Sox beat Cleveland 6-1 Friday night in front of a fired-up crowd of 21,652 at Guaranteed Rate Field. "A lot of credit to the fans. They showed up and they're behind us every single day, and they're witnessing a team that's got a lot of fight and understanding what's going on right now. It's a lot of fun to watch."
While winning their fifth straight game - something they haven't done since April of 2017 - the Sox (28-29) pulled into a second-place tie with the Indians in the AL Central.
"We're playing really good," starting pitcher Dylan Covey said. "We're having a lot of fun, building off each other. It's a ton of fun right now."
The White Sox took advantage of 4 Cleveland errors while scoring 4 unearned runs off flustered starter Trevor Bauer.
"A ball in play sometimes can wreak havoc," manager Rick Renteria said. "Fortunately for us, we were able to take advantage of it. I know we don't like being on the other side of that coin ourselves. Fortunately for us, it worked out."
There was some bad blood in the game as well.
After stealing third base Thursday night with the Sox leading the Indians 8-3 in the eighth inning, Sanchez was an obvious target in the second game of the series.
Bauer drilled Sanchez in the back his first time up, and Covey threw behind Roberto Perez two innings later. Both benches were warned after that.
Sanchez responded with a basehit off Bauer in his next at-bat and an RBI single after that.
"Not really," Sanchez said when asked if he thought Bauer tried to hit him.
Covey (1-4) got his first win since last August after allowing 1 run in 6 innings.
"I'm just trying to pound the zone and not let runners on base affect me," Covey said. "I think a couple years ago and maybe last year, runners would get on base and I'd kind of tense up and lose feel for the zone, try to do too much. That's something that this year, the confidence factor, the experience, knowing that if I make my pitches and let the defense work, that's all I can do. It worked out tonight."
Castillo update:
On the seven-day concussion list, White Sox catcher Welington Castillo is expected to be activated Saturday.
Castillo is feeling better and was able to catch a bullpen session Friday.
Seby Zavala was brought up from Class AAA Charlotte to replace Castillo, and he struck out in each of his first six at-bats before singling against the Indians Friday night. It was Zavala's first major-league hit.
After the Sox's 6-1 win, Zavala was sent back to Charlotte.