CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Some teams just have your number.
It appears the White Sox have the Guardians in 2024.
Gavin Williams 2024 debut lasted just four innings and it saw him give up five runs as the White Sox improved to 5-4 against Cleveland this season with an 8-2 win Wednesday evening at Progressive Field.
Here’s the top news and notes from the second game with the White Sox.
Tough debut – Williams first start of the season coming off an elbow injury did not go as planned but he came out of it healthy. “It's definitely going to come along,” Williams said of his command. “I mean, slider wasn't there today. It has been in the past, but I mean, got four days to work on it, so that's what I want to do.” The White Sox scored four runs on five hits in the fourth inning to build a comfortable 5-1 advantage off Williams. “I thought Gavin came out chucking,” Guardians manager Steven Vogt said. “It was great to see him healthy for one. Taking the mound here and just where I got away from a little bit was some command. Gave up some 0-2 hits, just too much of the plate at times and then had a hard time commanding the spin… He's going to get back to executing. It might take him a couple times out, but he showed some signs. Obviously the stuff is there and getting the first one out of the way and ready to get on a regular rotation back to work, knowing that you're going to be here, I think is going to help him out a lot. But we saw a lot more good than bad tonight.”
Perfect 10 – Jose Ramirez celebrated 10 years of Major League service time on Wednesday. “It's really special,” left fielder Steven Kwan said. “We were in the locker room, they had his highlights kind of just looping just throughout the whole day and then you see facial changes, body changes, uniform changes, and while all those things changed, he's the same player every day. I mean, doing hustle doubles, hitting his home runs. I think they showed, felt like a 20 pitch at bat off of a closer and he gets a big hit. It's cool to see consistency pays off in those kinds of things and from what I could tell, he doesn't take those dates for granted. So I mean it's well earned, well deserved. He's inspired a bunch of people in the Cleveland organization to play hard, including me.” Ramirez, who has spent his whole career in Cleveland, ranks third on the club’s all-time home run list with 239 and is tied for third with 620 extra base hits.
Tip of the cap – White Sox starter Erick Fedde picked up his sixth win of the season, second against the Guardians with six solid innings of work that saw him limit Cleveland to one run and three hits and lower his ERA is 2.65 in three starts against the Guardians. Fedde retired 12 in a row at one point.
Bright spot – Brayan Rocchio provided one of the few highlights of the night with his third home run of the season. The solo shot to right came with two out in the bottom of the seventh and the Guardians trailing 6-1.
Up next – Series finale Thursday afternoon at 1:10. RHP Ben Lively (7-4, 3.03) vs. TBD.
