Guardians Sweep White Sox, Take Solo Lead Of AL Central

With the first homestand in the books, the Cleveland Guardians are all alone atop the division.

Even in a year where the White Sox are expected to be the AL Central favorites, the Guardians still seem to have their number.

Franmil Reyes blasted his first homer of the season and Zach Plesac twirled a gem as the Guardians closed the series with a 6-3 win.

Today's victory gives Cleveland its first series sweep over Chicago since Sept. 22-24, 2020, but they've had an awful lot of success against their division rivals lately.

Despite going 9-10 against Chicago last season, Cleveland has won four of the last six season series against the Sox since 2016 and owns a 19-12 record against the Southsiders since 2020. In fact, the Indians/Guardians are 37-19 (.661) against Chicago at home since 2016 and 66-42 (.611) overall during that span - that's the most wins against the White Sox for any club since the start of the 2016 season.

Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon's games were impressive for Cleveland because the team really hasn't been involved in too many close games early in the year. The offense has largely been feast or famine, regularly score 10-or-more runs and winning, or two-or-fewer runs and losing.

Wednesday's second game of the doubleheader showcased a nice defensive effort with good pitching in a 2-1 win. This afternoon's game tested the Guardians' mettle.

Franmil Reyes launched his first home run of the season to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the third inning, but Chicago got on the board in the top of the fourth. It could have been a multi-run inning, but Reyes picked up his first outfield assist of the season by throwing out Luis Robert at the plate.

The Franimal gets loose in Cleveland! 💥#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/dyV32MmU01
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 21, 2022

Reyes doesn't play much right field these days, serving primarily as the team's designated hitter. But he did an admirable job when several balls were hit his direction today.

Cleveland added runs in the fifth and sixth on a Josh Naylor RBI single and a Steven Kwan sac fly to make it 4-1, but Chicago added a bit more pressure.

The Guardians defense fumbled a swinging bunt in front of home plate with two separate throwing errors by Trevor Stephan and Ernie Clement. Two runs scored and the lead was cut to 4-3.

But a continued great approach at the plate gave the Guardians a little insurance. Myles Straw opened the seventh with a single and Naylor doubled him home. Two batters later, Andres Gimenez drove in Naylor with a sac fly to left.

Zach Plesac was fabulous and put together the longest outing of the year for a Guardians' starter. He went 6.2 innings to earn his first win of the season. Plesac lowered his ERA to 1.53 by surrendering only 1 earned run (two total) while scattering seven hits.

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