CLEVELAND — Chicago White Sox pitcher Erick Fedde had a five-run lead after three innings during an April 10 start against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.
By the time the sixth inning ended, that score was tied.
Fedde took the mound Wednesday against the Guardians in the fourth inning with a four-run lead. This time Fedde needed just eight pitches for a 1-2-3 inning.
“That’s an important thing we talk about, shutdown innings,” Fedde said. “Any time the offense can pick us up big, keeping the momentum on our side is important.”
Fedde allowed one run on three hits in six innings Wednesday, leading the Sox to an 8-2 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 37,151 at Progressive Field.
“Honestly at the beginning of the game I didn’t feel I had great stuff, but settled in really well,” Fedde said. “Cutter came along really nicely, probably around the fourth inning. One of those things, battling until you can find your stuff.”
Fedde navigated through the 91-pitch outing.
“Great job of pitching by Fedde,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “That’s the mark of a really good major-league starter when he doesn’t have his best stuff but knows how to economize pitches, stand out there in the sixth inning and give us a chance to win.”
Lenyn Sosa had three hits, one run and one RBI while Martín Maldonado had two hits, including a two-run home run, and three RBI as the Sox scored at least six runs for the third time in their last four games.
“The guys are swinging the bat really good,” Maldonado said. “I feel like we are getting a lot of good at-bats from every spot in the order. But the quality of at-bat we have probably for the last month or a little bit more, have been really good.”
The Sox lost Tuesday’s series opener 7-6 despite rallying on a couple of occasions.
They broke Wednesday’s game open in the fourth. But Grifol noted the importance of Fedde limiting the Guardians to one run in the third despite beginning the inning with two on and no outs.
“He did a good job of minimizing damage, with help from (Luis) Robert (Jr.),” Grifol said.
Robert made a diving catch to rob David Fry, with Daniel Schneemann scoring on a sacrifice fly.
“He made a hell of a play in right-center, and made a pretty damn good throw to home plate in case people didn’t see it,” Grifol said, slyly referencing the end of Tuesday’s game when he defended Robert after the center fielder didn’t make a throw on Bo Naylor’s game-ending sacrifice fly.
The Sox scored four in the fourth. Sosa doubled and scored on a double by Nicky Lopez to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Maldonado drove in Lopez with a single.
Andrew Benintendi made it 5-1 with a two-run double against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who allowed five runs on seven hits in four innings.
Fedde made sure the lead remained with the quick work in the bottom of the fourth. He got Jhonkensy Noel to fly out to right on the second pitch of the at-bat and then struck out Naylor on five pitches. Brayan Rocchio grounded out to first on the first pitch he saw.
“Any time you can answer on another club’s scoring and have a shutdown inning, it puts you in a good spot to win games,” Grifol said. “We’ve done a really good job last two games answering their runs. Those shutdown innings are really important for momentum.”
Sosa had an RBI single in the seventh and Maldonado homered, his second of the season, in the eighth.
“We closed this one out offensively, Maldonado allowed us to pivot (and not pitch relievers John) Brebbia and (Michael) Kopech, which puts us in a good spot tomorrow,” Grifol said.
The series concludes Thursday with the Sox (25-63) planning a bullpen game. Jared Shuster will start for the Sox.
