White Sox Survive Arias' 446-Foot Bomb, Steal One in Cleveland

Gabriel Arias crushed a 446-foot, three-run homer to left center in the fifth that swung Cleveland's win probability from 31% to 61% — and the Guardians still lost. Chicago answered with a go-ahead run in the sixth on a groundout and held on for a 7-6 final.

This game had no patience for a slow build. Kyle Teel put Chicago up 2-0 in the first with a two-run shot to left (378 feet), and Cleveland answered immediately — Chase DeLauter went 425 feet to right center to tie it, then Daniel Schneemann singled home Manzardo to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead, all in the same inning. Tristan Peters knotted it again with a solo shot to right center (376 feet) in the second, and by the third, Colson Montgomery had blown the game open with a two-run homer to right center (390 feet) that made it 6-3 Chicago. Three leads had changed hands before the fourth inning was even in the books.

Then came the play that looked, for a moment, like it would define the afternoon. Arias — already with a single on the day — unloaded on one to left center in the fifth, a 446-foot three-run shot that scored DeLauter and Manzardo and knotted the game at 6. The win probability swung from 31% to 61% in Cleveland's favor on that single swing. The Guardians had erased a three-run deficit in one at-bat, and the crowd had every reason to believe this was their game to take.

It wasn't. Chicago answered in the sixth when Antonacci grounded out to first, but B. Montgomery crossed the plate on the play to put the White Sox back in front 7-6 — and that's where it stayed. Erick Fedde worked 5.1 innings for Chicago, allowing 8 hits and 2 earned runs, and the bullpen — Sean Newcomb (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER) and Trevor Richards (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER) — shut the door from there. The story of this game, it appears, is Chicago's ability to absorb a gut-punch and respond with the quietest, most unglamorous go-ahead run imaginable: a groundout. DeLauter (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Arias (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) were brilliant for Cleveland, but the Guardians couldn't find one more run when it mattered. For a White Sox team that looks to be in the middle of a genuine AL Central fight, stealing this one on the road — after nearly blowing a three-run lead — is exactly the kind of win that separates contenders from pretenders.