CLEVELAND (AP) — Carlos Santana homered and the Cleveland Guardians held off the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday night in a game that ended on a bizarre play.
The White Sox had the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth inning when Miguel Vargas singled through the hole at shortstop. Jacob Amaya scored and it seemed Mike Tauchman was going to tie the game before he appeared to injure himself while rounding third base.
Tauchman, who just came off the injured list after a right hamstring strain, was tagged out by catcher Austin Hedges for the final out after the throw from left fielder Steven Kwan.
Emmanuel Clase got his first save of the season, despite allowing three hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Paul Sewald (1-1) got the win.
One day after celebrating his 39th birthday, Santana drove a low slider from Sean Burke (1-2) on a full count into the stands in right-center to give Cleveland a 3-1 lead in the third.
Jhonkensy Noel had two hits, including an RBI single in the first inning to snap an 0-for-15 skid.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the first when Lenyn Sosa lined a base hit to left-center. The inning was extended earlier when Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez bobbled a potential double-play ball for his sixth error of the season.
Ramírez scored on a wild pitch from Burke to give the Guardians a 2-1 lead with two outs in the first. Burke’s changeup went through catcher Korey Lee’s legs. The ball got only 5 feet away from Lee, who was able to throw it quickly to Burke at home, but Ramírez beat the tag.
Santana, in his third stint with Cleveland, is batting .286 (12 for 42) with two home runs and four RBIs.
Chicago right-hander Jonathan Cannon (0-1, 3.12 ERA) faces Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (0-0, 4.50) on Thursday afternoon in the series finale.
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