Martinez's 422-Foot Grand Slam Buries Chicago, Cleveland Rolls 8-2

Angel Martinez drove in 6 runs on 2-for-5 night, including a 422-foot grand slam that turned a competitive game into a rout. Cleveland walked out of Chicago with an 8-2 final, backed by a dominant Parker Messick and a fifth inning that effectively ended any suspense.

Cleveland drew first blood in the first inning when Martinez singled to left, scoring both Kwan and Ramírez to put the Guardians up 2-0. Chicago answered quickly — Montgomery launched a 419-foot shot to center in the second to cut it to 2-1, and for a few innings it looked like the White Sox might have a game on their hands. Messick, though, was keeping Chicago's lineup in check, and the score held until everything came apart for the home side in the fifth.

The fifth inning is where this one was decided. Martinez stepped up and hit a 422-foot homer to right center, clearing the bases — DeLauter, Ramírez, and Adell all scored — and just like that it was 6-1. That swing moved Chicago's win probability from 24% to 6%, an 18-point collapse on a single pitch. Hedges added a single to left that scored Hoskins, pushing it to 7-1, and the game was effectively over. Kwan put an exclamation point on it with a 362-foot solo shot to right in the sixth to make it 8-1. Murakami homered to center at 406 feet in the bottom half for Chicago, but that was cosmetic — the story of the night was Cleveland's fifth-inning explosion, not Chicago's late consolation power.

Messick was excellent, going 7.0 innings and allowing just 4 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 8 against 1 walk — that's a performance that looks like a genuine ace outing regardless of the opponent. Franco Aleman closed it out with 2.0 scoreless innings and 4 strikeouts. On the Chicago side, Sandlin lasted only 5.1 innings, giving up 7 hits and 6 earned runs — the kind of line that makes a 5-1 deficit feel inevitable in hindsight. Martinez's 6 RBI on a 2-for-5 night was the engine of the whole thing, and Kwan's 3-for-5, 2-run, 1-homer performance made Cleveland's top of the order look like a genuine problem for any pitching staff. The White Sox showed some pop — three home runs as a team — but it was never enough to matter once that fifth inning landed.