White Sox end Indians' division-title hopes
Tim Anderson went 4-for-5 to remain atop the American League batting race and help the host Chicago White Sox defeat the Indians 8-3 on Wednesday night, eliminating Cleveland from the American League Central race.
The Indians' loss, coupled with the Twins' 5-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers earlier in the night, ended Cleveland's bid for a fourth straight AL Central crown. Minnesota won the division for the first time since 2010.
Cleveland (93-65) remains in the hunt for an AL wild-card spot with four games remaining but fell to 1 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays (95-64) and the Athletics (94-63), pending Oakland's late result Wednesday.
The Rays defeated the New York Yankees 4-0 on Wednesday while the A's were playing the Los Angeles Angels.
White Sox designated hitter Welington Castillo broke open what had been a tight contest with a three-run home run in the seventh that put Chicago on top by the final margin. The Indians loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Alex Colome entered and struck out Francisco Lindor to end the game and record his 30th save.
Chicago (69-88) jumped to a 3-0 lead after one inning, getting a leadoff home run from Leury Garcia on the second pitch of the game before benefiting from a defensive miscue by the Indians.
With one out and two Chicago baserunners in scoring position, Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana fielded Zack Collins' slow roller but fired the ball to the backstop, allowing two runs to score.
The Indians drew to within 3-1 on Mike Freeman's RBI single in the third inning, but the White Sox got that run back and more with run-scoring singles from Yolmer Sanchez and Jose Abreu in the third and fourth, respectively.
Jose Ramirez drilled a home run leading off the fifth -- his third home run in two games after returning from the injured list Tuesday -- before Freeman added an RBI groundout in the inning.
Anderson notched his sixth four-hit game of the season, extending his hitting streak to 12 games with singles in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings. He is batting .339, with Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu his nearest pursuer at .328.
Left-hander Ross Detwiler was the winner, improving to 3-5 after spacing three runs and five hits with no walks and one strikeout in five innings. Indians righty Shane Bieber (15-8) allowing five runs, three earned, on 10 hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
Abreu added three hits for the White Sox, while Sanchez and Daniel Palka had two apiece.
Franmil Reyes had three of the Indians' six hits.
--Field Level Media
