The lead changed hands five times before it was over. Chicago's White Sox survived a wild afternoon at Progressive Field, beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-6 on July 5 in a game that never settled until Sam Antonacci's groundout to first in the sixth inning sent B. Montgomery home with what proved to be the decisive run.
Erick Fedde absorbed the chaos and came out with the win. He allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 8 hits over 5.1 innings, striking out 4 and walking 1 on 89 pitches. Fedde is now 4-6 with a 4.34 ERA. Sean Newcomb closed it out, working 1.2 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts to earn his third save of the season.
The scoring started immediately. Kyle Teel's two-run homer to left in the first — 378 feet, with Miguel Vargas scoring ahead of him — gave Chicago an early 2-0 lead. Cleveland answered in the bottom half: Chase DeLauter's two-run shot to right center (425 feet) tied it, and Daniel Schneemann's single to center scored Manzardo to put the Guardians ahead 3-2. Tristan Peters homered to right center in the second to tie it again at 3-3. In the third, Andrew Benintendi singled to right to score Vargas and give Chicago the lead, then Colson Montgomery's two-run homer to right center (390 feet) extended it to 6-3. Cleveland's Gabriel Arias answered with a three-run shot to left center (446 feet) in the fifth — DeLauter and Manzardo scored — to tie the game at 6-6. Then, in the sixth, Antonacci grounded out to first and B. Montgomery crossed the plate to make it 7-6, a lead Chicago would not relinquish.
Cleveland's Colin Holderman took the loss, recording no outs while allowing 2 hits and 1 run on 16 pitches. He falls to 4-2 with a 1.95 ERA. The Guardians finished with 12 hits but left enough runners stranded to let the White Sox escape with the one-run victory.
Arias finished 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI, carrying Cleveland's offense in the middle innings. DeLauter went 2-for-5 with a homer and 2 RBI. For Chicago, Montgomery went 2-for-5 with a homer and 2 RBI, and Teel added 2 RBI on his solo shot. Holderman is 7 appearances away from 200 career games. Chicago improved to 46-42. Cleveland fell to 47-43.