Holmberg leads White Sox past Indians
CLEVELAND - David Holmberg had gone two years between victories. The wait was worth it Saturday night.
Holmberg allowed 2 runs in 5 innings for his first win since July 30, 2015 and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians 5-3.
The left-hander (1-0) hadn't won since defeating Pittsburgh when he was a member of the Cincinnati Reds.
"We need to win some ballgames, so I'm happy," Holmberg said. "You want to get in, use all your pitches, and get out. The guys came out hitting for me, so I wanted to do my part."
Holmberg began the season at Triple-A Charlotte and was called up on May 4.
Jose Abreu, who was forced to leave Friday's game after being hit on the left knee by a pitch from Andrew Miller, had an RBI single in a three-run first.
Manager Rick Renteria wasn't sure if his slugger would be able to play and made out two lineup cards. Abreu cleared that up when he arrived at the ballpark and told Renteria he wanted to be in the lineup. Abreu was 3 for 5, with a double in the second and a single in the fifth.
Chicago won despite having six runners thrown out on the bases. The White Sox had two runners thrown out in the first and one in the second, third, fifth and eighth innings. Melky Cabrera was thrown out at home in the first and again in the second.
"We were super aggressive but not necessarily good," Renteria said. "We were a little reckless. Some of the outs were aggressive, but we're going to try to score runs, so that's going to happen."
Josh Tomlin (3-8) allowed 4 runs - 3 earned - and nine hits in 2⅔ innings as the Indians lost for the fifth time in seven games.
"The one person who didn't do his job was me," Tomlin said. "I went out there and gave up four runs early on and put us in a hole."
Edwin Encarnacion homered for the second straight day, a two-run shot in the fourth. Carlos Santana added a solo homer in the sixth. Encarnacion narrowly missed a game-tying home run later in the inning when his high drive to left hit off the wall for a double.
"We didn't get much going besides the home runs," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "That was kind of our offense."
David Robertson - Chicago's fifth pitcher - recorded the final six outs for his 10th save.