By: Sean Fitzgerald

After Wednesday’s unplanned day off, the Cleveland Indians looked to play spoiler to an increasingly likely clinch of the AL Central by the Chicago White Sox in the first game of a Thursday’s doubleheader. 

The White Sox pulled ahead early to capture their first division title since 2008 by a healthy 7-2 margin in seven innings behind a barrage of homer runs. 

Aaron Civale (11-5), served up a leadoff bomb to Tim Anderson on the third pitch, a 1-1 count, putting Chicago’s South Side team 21 outs away from a clinch. 

Reynaldo Lopez (3-3), retired the side without much issue, striking out Myles Straw and getting Jose Ramirez to hit into the shift on the right side to end the frame. 

Civale’s second inning was even worse than his first. Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez mashed two back-to-back blasts to deep left field. It was the sixth time the White Sox had back-to-back homers this season, and the fifth time they’ve done so against the Indians. 

Tim Anderson came up and blasted an 0-1 pitch 381 feet to the right field seats for his second home run of the day, opening up a 6-0 White Sox lead. Civale became the first Cleveland pitcher to give up four or more long balls since Adam Plutko on May 23, 2019 against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

Robert nearly missed his second round-tripper of the inning, but knocked in another run and put runners at the corners. That was enough for DeMarlo Hale to see from his starter.

Civale struggling would be an understatement. 1 ⅔ innings, with seven runs given up. Six of the seven runs came on four home runs and seven hits total. He walked two batters and struck out three. 

The Tribe’s offense started to show some life in the third inning. Austin Hedges managed to work a full count before blasting a 381-foot solo blast to put the Tribe on the scoreboard with Bradley Zimmer notching a double as well. 

That spark from Hedges and Zimmer carried over, with Bobby Bradley getting in on the long ball action to narrow the deficit to five runs.  

Tony La Russa pulled Lopez after the Bradley dinger, his starter lasting 3 ⅓  innings pitched, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks, registering four strikeouts. 

With their AL Central hopes dashed following a rash of injuries and underperformance, the Indians soon-to-be Guardians certainly will be aiming to wrest away the divisional crown from the South Siders in 2022, with 11 games left to go on the 2021 docket. 

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Bieber’s return

Shane Bieber will be activated from the 60-day injured list and start tomorrow night. The undisputed staff ace hasn’t pitched in a big league game since June 13, going on the IL shortly after with a shoulder Strain. 

Bieber isn’t expected to handle a full workload, but instead hopes a start or two without any setbacks will allow him to go into the offseason with peace of mind and handle a normal offseason workout program for the reigning AL Cy Young. 

Let’s play two!

The second game of today’s doubleheader will start around 6:10 p.m. with Zach Plesac and Michael Kopech facing off. 

An interesting factoid for tonight’s starters: Both of them wear No. 34. 

Quietly excellent season for Quantrill

After allowing just one earned run Tuesday night, Cal Quantrill hasn’t allowed more than an earned run in 10 of his 13 starts since the All-Star break. 

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Quantrill is the first Cleveland pitcher since Sam McDowell to allow one earned run or less in 10 or more starts following the All-Star break. McDowell managed the feat 11 times in 1968 

Cesar 1,000

With a three-hit effort in the matinee, one-time Cleveland Indians second baseman Cesar Hernandez notched his 1,000th career hit on a sixth inning single. 

Hernandez was flipped to the White Sox at this year’s trade deadline for minor league left-hander Konnor Pilkington. 

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Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State graduate and the press box correspondent for Mark One Sports and CLE TribeCast. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr.