CHICAGO (AP) — Erick Fedde worked six scoreless innings, Tommy Pham had two hits and an RBI and the Chicago White Sox held on to beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-2 on Thursday night.
Chicago won its second straight and for the fourth time in six games to improve to 10-28. The White Sox no longer have the worst record in the majors, moving ahead of the Colorado Rockies, who are 9-28.
Last-place Chicago is 2-2 against AL Central-leading Cleveland.
“We're playing great," Fedde said. “We always felt like this team had potential. We had some bad injury luck, especially all together and it was a low-point for us. But I think over our last 12, 13 games we're playing at least .500 ball and that's who we expect to be and we just want to grow from that."
José Ramírez and Josh Naylor launched back-to-back solo homers off Chicago reliever John Brebbia with two outs in the eighth inning as Cleveland cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2.
The 36-year-old Pham, who doubled, is batting .313 in 12 games since joining the White Sox.
Andrew Vaughn and Paul DeJong added RBIs for Chicago.
Chicago rookie Bryan Ramos had a single and double in his sixth game since being recalled from Double-A Birmingham. He is 7 for 18 (.389) in his major league debut season. Eloy Jiménez had two hits, including a double to the base of the wall.
Fedde (3-0) allowed just three singles, walked none and struck out three through sixth innings. He credited command of a mix of pitches, especially his changeup.
“This team wants to lean on me to be a guy they can trust to go deep,” Fedde said. “I want to be that guy and it’s important to do that moving forward."
But the Guardians lined three straight singles off the 31-year-old right-hander to open the seventh and load the bases. Jordan Leasure entered and struck out Bo Naylor and Tyler Freeman. Kyle Manzardo grounded out to end the threat.
“He (Leasure) has electric stuff and when he puts it on display it's great,” Fedde said. “My ERA thanks him greatly.”
After Ramirez his his eighth homer and Naylor tagged Brebbia for his 10th in the eighth inning, Michael Kopech entered and got the final four outs for his fourth save.
“Cleveland's played good ball this year," Kopech said "Our best can beat their best and hopefully we can continue doing that against better and better teams, and get ourselves out of the hole that we build for ourselves and move on to a pretty good season.”
The White Sox hit the ball hard off Cleveland starter Ben Lively (1-2). The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits, including four doubles, in 5 2/3 innings.
“The first few innings he was battling his delivery,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “They were on the sinker. They got on him early, but he really settled in.”
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first on doubles by Pham and Vaughn. Vaughn’s hard liner hit the right-center wall and narrowly missed being a home run.
DeJong and Pham each drove in a run with singles in the second to increase Chicago’s lead to 3-0.
The Guardians acquired RHP Darren McCaughin from Miami for cash on Thursday, then optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. McCaughin appeared in one game this season for the Marlins, allowing eight runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Guardians: Transferred RHP Gavin Williams (right elbow inflammation) to the 60-day injured list
White Sox: All-Star CF Luis Robert Jr. is running at about 70% in his rehab from a right hip flexor strain, manager Pedro Grifol said. Robert suffered “a minor setback” a few days ago in training at the team’s facility in Glendale, Arizona. Grifol hopes the speedy slugger, out since April 5, will be up to “90% running in the next five, seven days” and then progress to baseball activities.
Guardians RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 5.67) faces White Sox LHP Garrett Crochet (2-4, 5.31) on Friday night.